Nozomi: Shippuden
by NinjaKitty91
Summary: This story follows Nozomi Kubota as she undergoes trials and hardship in order to grow as a kunoichi, and live up to the expectations placed on her as a jinchuuriki. Will follow canon events up to the end of the 4th Ninja War. Slow burn NarutoxOC. Read "Nozomi" first.
1. Homecoming

_Hello! I hope everyone's new year is off to a great start. I apologize for the prolonged wait on this update. Life has been insanely busy, folks, and only getting more chaotic as I get further along in this pregnancy. -v-_

 _But enough about that. You're here to read, yes? Well now, we're up to the Shippuden portion of Nozomi's story! Let's see what my girl's up to after the time skip, shall we?_

* * *

It was another beautiful day in Konoha. The sun beamed down from a cloudless sky, casting scorching rays onto the world below. A soft, gentle breeze wafted through the streets, making the sweltering heat bearable for the villagers. It seemed that the warmth of the sun, coupled with the blessing of the wind had put everyone in an upbeat mood. Well, _almost_ everyone.

"Not here, either." Golden eyes lowered to the ground, black cat ears pinning back as Nozomi left Ichiraku Ramen with a disappointed sigh.

' _I wonder if Konohamaru was just messing with me.'_ She thought with a frown. The day before, she'd encountered her former classmate, who seemed more energetic than usual, and curiosity had led to her asking what was up.

"Big brother Naruto's back in the village!" Came the enthusiastic reply that had made Nozomi's world come to an abrupt standstill. Eyes widening, she'd asked him if he was positive and he informed her that he had seen it for himself, causing a wide smile to spread across the brunette's face.

After training she'd taken to the streets to look for him, but had little to no luck, and after hours of fruitless searching, she was forced to give in and head home. Still, she refused to give up, and had gone out searching this morning. Her spiky haired friend was still nowhere to be found, however, and it was nearly noon. If she didn't take a break and have lunch, she knew she'd be waiting until after training, and when it came to Saera, one never knew _when_ a session would end.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Nozomi turned on her heel, heading out of the center of the village. Shortly after, she arrived in a neighborhood of apartment complexes and made her way down the line, finding hers and dashing up the steps. She opened the door and poked her head inside, calling out but as expected the place was empty.

' _That means I really don't have much time.'_ She thought as she shrugged off her sandals by the door and entered, making a beeline for the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, she decided that leftovers from the previous night's dinner would have to do and set them in the microwave, her claws clicking against the counter as she waited impatiently.

After what felt like too long a wait, the timer went off, and she snatched the meal out, taking it to the table. She made quick work of the food and took the empty dish to the sink, running enough water that it'd be easy to clean later.

Nozomi grabbed her weapons pouch and strapped it on, putting her shoes on once more before booking it out the front door, hoping her teacher hadn't been waiting for too long.

…..

Several moments later, she reached the training grounds and sighed. Despite being late already, she'd still gone slow enough to look for Naruto, and the fact that she hadn't even seen a speck of his trademark orange frustrated her. _Where could he be hiding?_

She didn't have time to think about it as Saera had spotted her, and suddenly stood just inches away, hands on her hips. "What took you so long?" she demanded, to which Nozomi responded with a toothy smile, her ears pinning back in embarrassment.

"I'm so-um..I mean..Something came up…" She trailed off, not really wanting to go into the real reason she'd taken so long getting there. "Anyways, I left as soon as I could. I'm here now, and ready to get started." She mentally patted herself for catching that apology, knowing just how bad that would have ended for her had it actually left her lips.

There was a slight twitch in Saera's eye as she had caught the near apology, but she let it go since Nozomi had stopped herself, fixing the girl with a knowing look. "Fine. Let's see if you remember any of what I taught you yesterday."

Without another word, the two kunoichi lunged away, putting a good distance between themselves as they each went into a defensive fighting stance. "Come at me…and Nozomi?" The blonde smirked slightly at the curious look her student gave her. "No holding back this time."

A sheepish chuckle left the younger girl's lips. Since her first transformation into what was now referred to as "KuroNozo", Nozomi was careful not to use too much of Kumoraku's chakra. Naturally, Saera had caught on and urged her not to go so easy on her, but the brunette still felt hesitant. Memories of the wounds she'd inflicted on her teacher still haunted her. Even if Saera's demon _was_ powerful enough to subdue her, she wasn't eager for a repeat performance of that day.

Though, judging by her sensei's tone, it didn't sound like she had a choice. Anything less than her best would result in some sort of punishment, and the brunette didn't want to find out what extreme training method would be employed this time.

Realizing that she had yet to respond verbally, Nozomi nodded, giving the woman a serious look. "Alright, you asked for it."

Saera merely nodded, and the brunette launched into a front flip, propelling herself forward in an attempt to kick the blonde in the jaw. A shocked look briefly covered her features when her attack made contact, only to fade into disappointment when she realized Saera had probably _let_ her hit her. Still, she had to give herself a little credit for using chakra to amplify her speed. She'd done it in such a subtle way, that it was likely Saera hadn't noticed!

' _Naruto-kun is gonna be blown away with my progress!'_ A giddy smile appeared on her face at the thought. He'd have to admit she was much better than the girl who couldn't even land a punch last time. Her smile began to fade as a new thought occurred to her. ' _That is, if I can_ _ **find**_ _him. Naruto-kun..I wonder what you're doing right now..'_

"Hey! Look alive!"

Realizing with a start that she'd lowered her guard, Nozomi's gaze shot upward, and she gasped, jumping back just seconds before Saera crashed down where she'd been standing; her red chakra engulfed fist smashed into the ground, cracking it slightly. Realizing how close she'd come to actually being injured, the brunette took another step back.

"What's the matter with you?" Saera demanded as she stood up straight, scowling at the girl. "You know not to let your guard down when we're going all out!"

A drop of sweat rolled down Nozomi's head as she fumbled for an excuse, grinning sheepishly. "Ah, nothing's wrong! I guess I'm just a little sleepy today. It won't happen again."

Saera nodded, seeming to buy her excuse. "Well, you better wake up, unless you _want_ to get hurt!" The trademark smirk was in place as she quirked an eyebrow at her student. "Come on, I know you can do better than this."

"Of course I can!" Nozomi retorted, slightly annoyed by the woman's teasing tone. She clasped her hands together, looking somewhat pained when purple chakra began to emerge from her body. Concentrating hard, she directed the power to her arms until it had cloaked her from her elbows to her hands, forming large chakra claws at her fingertips.

"Try _this_ on for size, Saera-sensei!" She cried, lunging at the woman as she swiped both sets of chakra claws at her.

"That's what I'm talking about, Nozomi!" Saera grinned and stepped back, narrowly dodging the attack, making the girl grin as she continued her assault.

' _I wonder what Naruto-kun would think of these.'_ Once again, Nozomi was distracted as she pictured the boy's reaction, making her smile and lose focus. As a result, her timing was horribly off, enabling Saera to evade her attacks with ease, jumping out of range.

Before the brunette even realized what was happening, the woman summoned up her own demon chakra to her fist once more and charged forward. Her attack hit Nozomi square in the chest, bringing her back to reality with a strangled gasp as she was sent flying, her chakra claws disappearing.

Not wanting to hear another lecture, Nozomi quickly got back to her feet, wincing at the pain in her back. She had just formed her demon chakra claws again when Saera dashed forward, unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks that she just barely managed to avoid. Though, in a matter of seconds she had gotten into a rhythm of dodging and countering. Things were looking up, it seemed. With the dulling pain from her last distraction keeping her focused, Nozomi was keeping up a steady fight, dodging when need be and taking any opening to attack; even creating some herself. As they continued to spar, the duo moved further into the training grounds, though neither of them paid much attention to their surroundings.

Then it happened. Nozomi glanced away briefly and spotted the tree where Naruto had helped her work on her kunai throwing. She'd nearly lost it and tried to attack imaginary Suoh, and had to have Naruto hold her back.

Golden eyes glazed over at the memory, but an incoming foot in her peripheral vision brought her back to attention, and she spun around, shooting her own leg forward to block the attack.

"Good." Saera commented with what the girl thought was a small smile, only to be wiped away quickly as the woman stepped forward, initiating another attack.

Smirking, Nozomi channeled chakra to her feet and crouched low, waiting until the blonde was in striking distance. With a chakra enhanced spring she pounced toward her sensei…only to go tumbling onto her face as the woman sidestepped away at the last possible second.

The brunette got up quickly, rubbing her nose with a groan before shooting her mentor a smile. "Nice dodge." She remarked, raising her fists once more, knowing the fight was far from done. Only when one of them surrendered would the fight end. Originally, she wasn't crazy about this method, but it had definitely upped her endurance; she could take more hits than she used to.

Nozomi kept a careful watch of her surroundings, knowing it wouldn't be beyond the woman to switch with a clone and wait for an opportunity to catch her off guard. She had no intention of giving her any such chance -she wanted to win for once! Sadly, it was not meant to be as she glanced around a few moments later and was captivated by the sight of a lake; the same lake that she and Naruto had gone swimming in years before.

"Hey, focus or I'll knock you on your tail _again_ , Nozomi!" Saera shouted exasperatedly, but she couldn't bring herself to respond, too enthralled by her memories.

That day, she'd told him of her past relations with her clan, and he'd elected to help her move forward. The nickname he'd given her to re-purpose a hated one was quirky, and a bit annoying, but endearing, and soon hearing "Neko-chan" made her smile on the inside -not that she'd ever openly admit it!

"Nozomi!" Noticing that the girl was so lost in thought she'd released her chakra claws, Saera heaved a heavy sigh and shook her head. ' _Damn...we were doing so well for a while, there. Oh well. Looks like another win for me.'_ Shaking her head, she thrust her leg forth in a powerful chakra filled front kick, and as expected, Nozomi didn't make any effort to block it.

With a pained cry, the brunette was sent flying backward into a tree, the impact of her landing cracking the trunk in half. "Ow..!" She moaned as she got up and rubbed her back, wincing. "Saera-sensei, why so rough?!" She demanded, casting an irritated glare at her sensei.

Saera narrowed her eyes at the statement as she approached, frowning. "That wasn't any harder than my normal kicks. You just weren't paying attention. _Again_."

"...Oh." Sweat dropping, Nozomi rubbed the back of her neck, looking uncomfortably at the ground. "M-my bad, then…"

Sapphire eyes rolled upwards briefly before zeroing in on the girl. "I'll ask again. What's the matter? You're really distracted right now for some reason…"

The brunette's face turned sheepish as she slowly lifted her gaze to meet her teacher's, laughing awkwardly. "Nothing's the matter! I guess I'm just really tired….I surrender."

A soft sigh left Saera's lips at her student's admittance of defeat, and she gazed up at the sky, raising a brow. "It _is_ getting late. Let's call it a day then."

All at once, Nozomi's eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously. "Thank you, Saera-sensei! I'm pretty hungry now, so I think I'll go get something to eat. See you at home!"

Saera watched as the brunette ran off, looking anything but tired, and a small smirk settled onto her face. "Like I don't know where you're _really_ going."

A soft laugh escaped as she watched until her student was out of sight, and she shook her head in amusement. She'd also heard about Naruto's return, and judging from Nozomi's distracted behavior, it was obvious she'd been thinking of him.

…..

"I can't believe I still couldn't find him!" Nozomi fretted under her breath as she trudged down the streets of Konoha. Since being dismissed from training, she'd been searching high and low for Naruto, but after another day with no results she was beginning to wonder if he _was_ home. Maybe Konohamaru just said that to mess with her…

Whether it was true or not, it was high time she got something to eat. She'd meant it when she told Saera-sensei she was hungry, but she'd wanted to see her friend. Since that didn't seem to be a possibility now, though, she opted to feed her aching stomach, as the sun had gone down long ago.

As she turned a corner, debating on what to go eat, she heard voices coming her way. It sounded like Sakura, but who was that with her? A moment later, a familiar pinkette came into view talking with a spiky haired blond and she froze, eyes widening slightly as they drew nearer. ' _No way...I stop searching and he just shows up? What are the odds?'_

She was about to rush forward and greet him, but then she remembered he was with Sakura and paused. ' _Aww man, if Sakura-chan sees me she might say something stupid to embarrass me! I guess I'll wait for another time..'_

Groaning inwardly, the brunette took cover in a nearby tree, watching as Naruto and Sakura walked by. To her dismay, the kunoichi suddenly stopped and glanced around, the boy following suit as he gave her a curious look.

"Why'd you stop, Sakura-chan?"

"Funny...I thought I saw Nozomi-chan right now.." Sakura murmured thoughtfully, carefully scanning their surroundings.

"Really? Where?" Came Naruto's curious reply as he too glanced around, cupping his hands around his mouth and calling out. "Hey, Nozomi-chan, are you there?"

Taking care not to be spotted, the brunette peeked out, watching them. ' _It's him..it's really him!'_ She thought happily, a soft smile appearing on her face as Naruto abandoned his search in favor of questioning Sakura about her. ' _He sure has grown handsome..'_

Immediately after the thought crossed her mind, Nozomi shook her head vigorously, drawing her brows together. ' _What? No! Naruto-kun is a_ _ **friend**_ _! I shouldn't think things like that about him!'_ She reprimanded herself with a frown.

" _ **When are you going to stop lying to yourself?"**_ Kumoraku's voice rumbled in her subconscious. The feline made a sound that sounded half like a yawn and half like a laugh, rolling her large red eyes in amusement. " _ **As much as I enjoy seeing you struggle, it's almost**_ _ **painful**_ _**to watch when it's completely obvious that you**_ _ **like**_ _**him."**_

Nozomi clenched her jaw, mortified that the beast was still going along with Sakura's ridiculous teasing after all this time. Shaking her head, she returned her attention to the duo below, and nearly fell off the branch when she was met with a green eyed stare.

…..

In the middle of half answering, half ignoring Naruto's questions, Sakura was carefully surveying their surroundings. She was positive she'd seen Nozomi here...nobody else looked like her! Frustrated, she threw her head back in a sigh, arching her brows as she gazed up into startled golden orbs.

"Sakura-chan, are you even listening to me?!" Naruto demanded, looking annoyed.

A devious grin spread across the kunoichi's face as Nozomi motioned for her to go, mouthing "I'm not here", and she turned back to Naruto. "I _am_ listening, but wouldn't you rather ask her yourself?" At the blond's confused look, she jerked her head towards the tree, urging him to do the same.

"Nozomi-chan!" She called, stepping up close to the tree. "Don't make me drag you down here!"

"Nozomi-chan?" Naruto mimicked the girl, his eyes traveling upward, and a grin broke out on his face as he saw Nozomi, looking like...well... a cat stuck in a tree. "Hey! I was wondering when I'd bump into you! Are you gonna come down, or do you need me to come get you?"

Nozomi sweat dropped at the implication and shook her head, slightly irritated when she heard Sakura snicker. "What? No! I can do it myself!" She braced herself and jumped off the branch, landing in a crouch.

"Er….hi, guys." She had barely stood up straight when Naruto stepped into her personal bubble, grinning and giving her an approving look. "It's been a long time, Neko-chan! You've grown a lot!"

"Yeah, I guess." Nozomi replied, trying to ignore Sakura's pointedly amused stare as she heard her nickname for the first time. "Though, it looks like you're _taller_ than me now."

Naruto laughed at the slight pout on her face and nodded. He opened his mouth to say something, only to shut it again, his eyes lighting up as he noticed her headband. "Hey! You got your headband!" He exclaimed, reaching out and tapping the metal plate excitedly. "See? I told you you'd get there!"

"Of course I got it." Nozomi's beamed, feeling her discomfort fade. "I tested just a few months after you left on your journey. It was hard, having to be ready earlier than the others but I passed, and now I'm a ninja like you and Sakura-chan!" She puffed her chest proudly, enjoying the way he praised her for graduating so early.

"I hope training with Jiraiya-sama made you stronger, cause _I'm_ not that weak little pushover you knew." She added with a smirk.

Naruto nodded, flashing her a thumbs up and grinning confidently. "Of course it did! Just wait until you see how much stronger I've gotten!"

"That's great!" Nozomi commented, unable to keep from beaming back as his happiness was infectious. "Maybe you can show me soon, then...unless you've forgotten?"

"I never forget a promise, -ttebayo!" Came the boy's grinning response, and she chuckled.

"Good." A soft sigh escaped as the brunette smiled softly, his return filling a void in her life. "It's nice to have you back, Naruto-kun."

She frowned as she felt a sudden tension around her and glanced around, her fur spiking up as she noticed the sneaky look on Sakura's face. ' _She's gonna do something to make me feel awkward now, isn't she?'_ She groaned inwardly.

"You should've seen how much Nozomi-chan missed you, Naruto." Sure enough, there was a smug look on the pinkette's face as she spoke, and Nozomi felt a sense of dread pass over her. "She sat on your roof top every night to watch the sunset, and she was always talking to someone...I think she was pretending you were there with her."

"Really?" A goofy grin formed on Naruto's face as he turned his attention back to the brunette, and she sweat dropped, silently cursing Sakura for revealing what was supposed to be a secret.

"Well, I wasn't really-I mean-"

Before Nozomi could come up with a decent excuse, the boy had pulled her close, crushing her to his chest in a tight hug. "I missed you too, Nozomi-chan."

Softly sighing, the brunette relented, soaking in his embrace and closing her eyes in contentment. When she opened them again, she noticed Sakura watching and frowned at her.

The kunoichi just grinned and gestured for her to hug him back, giggling when the girl bit her lip and looked away. ' _Operation make Nozomi-chan realize her feelings is a-go!'_ The pink haired girl thought excitedly.

Sensing her friend's intentions, Nozomi broke out of the embrace, purposely avoiding looking at the pouting boy. "Well, it was nice to see you again, Naruto-kun...but I've got to get going now, so I'll see you guys later."

Green eyes narrowed in suspicion as Sakura watched her. ' _You're not escaping that easy!'_ She thought, quickly stepping into the brunette's path. "What's your hurry?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Naruto's back after all this time. I would think _you'd_ want to see him more than anyone."

Nozomi took a step back and rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably, grateful that Naruto didn't seem to have caught the suggestive undertone of their friend's words. "Of course I do! But I just finished training a while ago, and I'm starving."

Before Sakura could reply, Naruto looked at the brunette, all signs of his pout gone as he grinned. "Hey, that's perfect! I'm going to Ichiraku. Why don't we go together, like old times?"

The brunette glanced from him to Sakura, then back at him, confused. "But...aren't you and Sakura-chan going out right now?" She asked after a pause.

' _There's no way there was anything like that going on between us, Nozomi-chan!'_ Sakura rolled her eyes at the girl's implication. "I was only going along if it was Naruto's treat, but he wants to split the bill, so it's a no-go." She paused, looking thoughtfully from Naruto back to the brunette and grinned. "I'm sure he'd be willing to buy _you_ some ramen, though."

A drop of sweat rolled down Nozomi's head, and she raised her hands in protest, ignoring the sheepish smile on Naruto's face that more than likely meant Sakura was right. "He only did that because I was always so broke in the past...things are different now." She muttered, not liking where the discussion was headed.

Still, her pink haired friend refused to give in. "Heh, either way, you've been dying to see Naruto all this time...you should go with him!"

"Yeah, I'd really like that!" Nozomi's protest died on her tongue as she saw excited, blue eyes gazing at her hopefully. "Please, Nozomi-chan...say you'll go with me?"

It had been years since she'd seen Naruto, but that didn't change the fact that she'd do just about anything for him, and she had a feeling he knew that. Why else would he be giving her such sad, pleading puppy eyes? Or maybe it would be more accurate to call them fox eyes in this case. Regardless, she knew she couldn't turn down such a hopeful looking Naruto.

Careful not to look at Sakura, who was grinning like a cheshire cat, the brunette smiled softly at the blond. "How can I possibly say no to that?"

"Awright! Let's go then!" Naruto cheered, holding his hand out to her, and she accepted it, praying he wouldn't read into the matter too much. "See ya later, Sakura-chan!"

Naruto began to lead Nozomi away, grinning at her from the corner of his eye. Maybe the fact that she'd let him hold her hand meant there was a chance for them this time around. Meanwhile, the brunette was just grateful that they'd left before Sakura could make things any worse.

It seemed luck itself was against her, however, as they had barely begun to walk when Sakura called out in an overly sweet tone, making Nozomi's fur stand on end once more.

"Have fun on your _date_ , you two!"

The brunette grimaced as she saw the sly smile on Naruto's face, and she glanced away, inwardly cursing her luck.

…..

"Yep, looks like Ichiraku hasn't changed a _bit_ since I've been away."

Nozomi glanced at Naruto from the corner of her eye as they approached the ramen shop and grinned at his goofy expression. It was a welcome change from the not-so-subtle staring on the walk over.

"Mmm...that's the smell I love." The boy went on as he took a deep whiff of the air, looking like he was in heaven. "I'm getting hungry!"

"Well then, why don't we go in?" The brunette suggested, smirking when the boy hurried inside, and following him. Taking a seat, she watched with amusement as Teuchi recognized the blond and greeted him heartily; Ayame followed suit, gushing over how he'd grown.

"Well, what'll ya have? Still got your appetite?" The old man asked, and Naruto grinned.

"You bet! I'm starving!"

"Then today your food's on the house! Order anything you want." The shopkeeper replied, and he cheered loudly, glancing at the brunette beside him briefly. "What about Nozomi-chan? Does the offer go for her too?"

Before Teuchi could answer, Nozomi's stomach growled loudly, and both men gave her an amused look before Naruto leaned over, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Gee, Neko-chan!" He exclaimed, a teasing grin on his face. "We'd better get you something to eat before you collapse -you must be famished -ttebayo!"

"Ha ha." Feeling the telltale burning in her cheeks, Nozomi pushed him away from her with a roll of her eyes. "You can order first. I already said I would pay for myself, so I'll go after."

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but it was drowned out by another voice, and the tarp in front of the shop lifted as Iruka entered.

"Hold it! Let me get this one." The dark haired man grinned when his eyes landed on his student, and he took a seat beside the boy. "I had a hunch you might be here, Naruto." He glanced around, asking where Sakura was and the whiskered boy glanced down regretfully.

"Well if I'd known the check was gonna be taken care of I definitely would've brought Sakura along." He responded.

Iruka nodded, raising an eyebrow as his gaze landed on the cat eared girl beside him. "That must mean you're here as his date instead, right?"

"Hehe, I guess it _does_." A small smirk tugged at the corner of Naruto's lips as he nodded.

"No, not really." Nozomi said quickly with a shake of her head. "We ran into each other and thought we'd get a bite to eat and catch up. That's all."

The blond's shoulders slumped at her denial, and he pouted, looking away, a fact that did not go unseen by Iruka. Thankfully, the man kept quiet, figuring now wasn't the time for such a discussion.

…..

"One extra large serving of the house special ramen!"

Nozomi licked her lips hungrily as the old man set down their food in front of them and picked up her chopsticks eagerly, giving thanks.

"Ohh man, the real Ichiraku ramen! For all these years during my entire training I dreamt about eating this ramen!"

In spite of her hunger, the brunette glanced up at Naruto's overjoyed outburst and grinned. You'd think he'd been told that Tsunade had declared him Hokage with the way he was beaming!

' _I wonder what Iruka-sensei's thinking about.'_ She thought as she realized the man was also watching her friend with something akin to fondness in his eyes. It was then that the chunin's eyes shifted to meet hers, his lips pulling up in a smirk as she quickly went back to slurping her noodles. Nozomi bit her lip, avoiding his knowing stare. What was he grinning like that for, anyway?

To her left, Naruto continued to devour his ramen, completely oblivious to the tension in his friend, and his former teacher's amusement. "Wooow! It's just like I remember, Ichiraku's the best in the world!" He exclaimed, once again drawing Nozomi's attention with his enthusiasm.

"Only...there's just one thing." He added a moment later, looking slightly put out. Just like that Teuchi was in his face, accusing him of criticizing his ramen, and Nozomi found herself recoiling away, sweat dropping at the sudden tension. Finally, Naruto was able to sort out the misunderstanding with the ramen maker, and she sighed with relief, listening to his explanation.

"It's just..I was hoping the next time Iruka-sensei treated me to ramen would be the day I became a chunin." He began, looking unusually downcast. "Every single one of my classmates has made the leap up to chunin -the only one who's still a genin is me."

A pang of sympathy went through Nozomi as she listened to the boy, taking in his somber countenance. ' _I should tell him he's not the only genin in our age group.'_ She thought, opening her mouth, but before she could say anything, Iruka spoke up.

"It doesn't matter whether technically you're a genin or chunin, you've been trained privately by Master Jiraiya himself." He reminded him, and while Naruto seemed to cheer up at this, it didn't last long.

"That Pervy Sage is out of control! His training's so intense it messed up the headband you gave me, and all my clothes got totally ruined too!" He lamented, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "That's why I had to have this new outfit made for me-and a replacement cloth for my headband!"

"Even if the training was intense at times, it still made you strong, didn't it?" Iruka interjected, grinning. "You should be proud of yourself!"

"So yeah! What if it's hard?" Nozomi interjected, and the blond turned to her, surprised. "Aren't the difficult things what make us stronger?" She grinned toothily as he nodded, his own smile beginning to emerge.

"Yeah, I've definitely gotten another step closer to becoming Hokage!"

Smiling, the brunette went back to eating, listening to the two men's conversation and letting her thoughts wander. She could understand Naruto's frustration about being a genin. In spite of all her hard work, neither Saera nor the Hokage seemed to believe she was ready to move up in rank, and when asked why she was presented with vague excuses. She must be doing something wrong, but _what_ it was she didn't know. All she knew was the whole situation stung. How much worse it must be for Naruto, she empathized, since he'd been a ninja longer than she had.

"He's already the Kazekage, and I'm still just some insignificant genin."

Snapped out of her thoughts, gold eyes shot toward Naruto. The subject had definitely changed without her noticing, but this was still a good time to tell him she, too was still a genin. Or at least, it would've been if there weren't others around to hear her say it. ' _I'll wait for another opportunity.'_ She decided.

"All that training with Master Jiraiya wasn't for nothing, right?" Iruka was saying now, still determined to convince Naruto that he wasn't the same as some lowly genin. "Rumor has it you and Sakura managed to snatch Kakashi's bells, and that's something to be proud of!"

Naruto beamed at the chunin's praise, scratching his head somewhat bashfully. "Yeah, doing that was more of a cinch than I thought!"

' _So_ _ **that's**_ _where he was all this time!'_ Nozomi listened raptly as the boy recounted his experience, amused as he disclosed the method used to defeat the silver haired man.

Time flew by, and before they knew it, everyone's bowls were empty. Nozomi sighed contently, knowing she'd be sleeping good on such a full belly. She was reaching for her wallet when Iruka cleared his throat, and she glanced over at him curiously.

"I said I would get this one, remember?"

"Wh..? I thought you were paying for Naruto-kun." The brunette replied, surprised. "Thank you, but there's no need to worry about me, Iruka-sensei. I have enough money to cover my meal."

"Then save it." Came Iruka's reply before he set down enough money to cover all three of them, earning him a stunned stare from the cat eared girl.

Grinning nonchalantly, he raised his arms behind him and stretched as he got to his feet. "Well, it's late, so I'm gonna head out. See you guys later." With that, the man took his leave.

' _I hate letting people spot for me...it feels like I'm falling into debt.'_ Nozomi put her wallet away, pouting. Now she'd have to treat Iruka-sensei later to ease her conscience, she thought, sighing as she also stood up. "I do agree with him on one thing: it _is_ getting late. I'd better go myself. Good night, Naruto-kun."

She thanked Teuchi for the food and headed out herself. She'd barely began to walk away from the shop, however when she heard Naruto's voice.

"Wait!" The blond called, jogging after her. When she stopped and gave him a perplexed look, he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I was thinking we could walk together, since you live in the same neighborhood as me. I didn't get to talk to you much at dinner."

"That's true.." Nozomi nodded thoughtfully, a small smile appearing on her face. "I'll stick with you until we reach your apartment. Sound good?"

Naruto hesitated, pouting slightly. "I was hoping we could go for a walk before heading back…"

"It's not that I don't want to hang out," the brunette began, "but if I stay out too much longer, Saera-sensei might actually come looking for me. Or worse..." She paused, shuddering. "She could add an extra drill to training as punishment for coming home so late."

"Don't worry." The spiky haired boy shrugged, grinning innocently. "I won't keep you out _too_ long. I just want to talk."

Raising an eyebrow at his persistence, Nozomi relented, and the two of them went on their way

…..

"So, you and Sakura seem pretty close now."

"Yeah, we kinda clicked while you were away."

"How are things with Saera-sensei?"

"They're good-well- better than they were before."

"So was that thing Sakura-chan said about you sitting on my roof every night true?"

Nozomi had been keeping up with the barrage of questions relatively well, but his last one took her by surprise, and she hesitated, looking away uncomfortably. "Well...you were my only friend for the longest time...I was lonely when you left." She mumbled, not daring to look up and see the goofy grin that was most likely on the boy's face.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, she decided it was time for a subject change and raised her eyes to meet his once more. "Um, hey Naruto. Remember when you said that you were the only genin of all your friends?"

All at once, the grin faded from Naruto's face, and he looked away, pouting. "Yeah, why? You gonna laugh at me?" He grumbled. "I'll bet even _you've_ passed me up, haven't you?"

"Eh...not exactly.." The brunette replied, biting her lip as she, too looked away, focusing on the road in front of them.

"What do you mean, "not exactly"?" Naruto questioned, giving her a sideways glance, and she exhaled softly.

"I'm still a genin, myself." She explained, smiling sheepishly as the boy's eyes widened.

"How is that even possible?" He questioned, brows furrowing in confusion. "Didn't you enter the chunin exams with everyone else?"

"Nope." Nozomi shook her head, a hint of bitterness in her voice as she spoke. "Saera-sensei says I'm not ready."

She broke off with a heavy sigh, shaking her head when she noticed the spark of curiosity in her friend's eyes. "I'll tell you some other time. Anyway, I just wanted you to know you weren't the only one so you wouldn't feel completely left behind, I guess."

"But...why can't you tell me now?" Naruto demanded, refusing to let the subject drop. He was happy to know he wasn't the only genin in his age group, but at the same time, his curiosity was not something he could just shut off.

Instead of answering, gold eyes shifted forward, and a relieved smile lit up the girl's face briefly before she glanced back. "Because, we're already here." She stated, motioning to the familiar apartment just ahead.

"So come in and visit for a while. I'm not ready to say goodnight yet." The blond pressed, and she gave him a playful shove, laughing.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Alright, alright." He relented, the sly smile fading from his face, and Nozomi chuckled again.

"Well, go get some rest, Naruto-kun. I'll see you later." The words had barely left her mouth when Naruto stepped forth and swept her into a tight embrace. "Naruto-kun?" She gawked up at him in surprise.

In response, he smirked down at her. "I thought we had nicknames for each other...or did you forget, _Neko-chan_?"

The intensity of his stare unnerved the brunette, and she swiftly averted her gaze, feeling her face heat up. "No, I remember…Kitsune-kun." She murmured softly, not needing to look to know that the boy was beaming.

"That's better." Naruto paused as he noticed the red hue spreading across her cheeks and chuckled. "This is like the day I left! Remember?" He snickered as the color of her face darkened. "I thought so. You know, I never forgot the promise I made back then, -ttebayo!"

"Promise?" Nozomi's eyes shot to his, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "You mean...the one about sparring? I know, you said that...earlier.." She trailed off, sweat dropping as Naruto shook his head, leaning in closer.

' _Oh...he means_ _ **that**_ _promise, doesn't he?!'_ She gasped as the boy's head tilted toward hers and turned her head to the side, squinting her eyes shut as if that would make the situation go away.

Naruto blinked, surprised when his kiss landed on her cheek, and made a noise that sounded like a mixture of a sigh and a laugh before leaning back. "You're as quick as ever." He snickered, and the brunette huffed softly.

"What's so funny?" She demanded, jerking out of his embrace and stepping back to scowl at him.

"Nothing." Came Naruto's amused response as he stared down at her, grinning. "I was just thinking that it seems like the Pervy Sage was right about you."

Whatever she'd been expecting him to say, it wasn't that, and Nozomi's eyes widened slightly before she clenched her jaw. "What did he say about me?" She asked, hoping she didn't look as uncomfortable as she felt.

Naruto just smirked in response, raising his hand in a small wave. "Well, I promised not to keep you too long, so...Good night, Neko-chan."

"Wait a minute!" The brunette protested, frowning. "What do you mean, the Pervy Sage was right about me? Right about _what_ , exactly? Tell me!"

To her dismay, the spiky haired boy acted as if he hadn't heard her, and she watched, annoyed as he climbed the steps to his apartment before disappearing behind the door.

"...Good night." The brunette muttered, sticking her tongue out at the closed door, before turning on her heel and heading home.

…..

The lights were off when Nozomi reached the apartment, and she took extra care to be quiet so as not to wake her roommate. The longer she could wait to explain her lateness, the better in her opinion.

Stepping into the main room, she turned on a small light- and nearly jumped out of her skin as she saw the very woman she'd been thinking about standing there, watching her with something akin to amusement in her eyes.

"I take it you found him." She said calmly, and Nozomi sweat dropped.

"F-found who?" She asked, biting her lip.

How could Saera have possibly known she'd been looking for someone? Maybe she'd been spying on her. Or perhaps she was just too obvious about her intentions after training, a deep, unwelcome voice remarked in her head. She chose to ignore it, not in the mood to deal with the demon cat at the moment.

Saera smirked, reading the confusion in the girl's face. "A certain blond haired, blue eyed idiot clad in orange." When the brunette's eyes widened, she snickered,quirking an eyebrow. "Don't be so surprised...I knew all along that you were out looking for him! You're not exactly subtle, Nozomi!"

Nozomi bit her lip, groaning inwardly, but before she could respond, the blonde haired woman lifted her hand to her mouth in a barely concealed yawn. "It's late. Go to sleep so you're not dead for training in the morning. I expect a much better session now that you've had your Naruto fix."

Something about the way she'd worded that made Nozomi blush faintly, and she frowned. "My Naruto fix? What on earth does that me-"

The slam of Saera's bedroom door alerted her of the woman's absence, and she sighed, plodding to her own room and shutting the door behind her.

As she got ready for bed, her gaze landed on the silver and green moon crescent and round cat pendant on her dresser, and she smiled. ' _Now that he's home, I can properly thank him for this.'_ She thought.

Though, it'd definitely have to be a time when Sakura wasn't around, after what she'd pulled earlier that evening. Yet, the idea of being alone with Naruto didn't exactly feel comforting at the moment, either.

A tint of pink colored her cheeks as she recalled the boy's earlier attempt, and she touched her cheek, frowning. So much for hoping this whole crush thing would blow over by the time he came home. As if that wasn't bad enough, Sakura's actions earlier proved that the girl was out to get her...Get her together with Naruto, that was.

She'd just have to find a way to make him understand they were friends, and friends only. In other words, she thought, as she crawled into bed, she was going to have to friend zone him.

" _ **You really think he'll**_ _ **let**_ _**you do something like that?"**_

Nozomi's eyes cracked open slightly in irritation at Kumoraku's words, and she grimaced. " _He's not going to get a choice in the matter."_ She insisted.

" _ **I really wonder**_ _ **who**_ _**it is that won't get a choice."**_ A malicious, fanged grin appeared on the cat's face, and she snorted when her host glared at her darkly. " _ **He's far more persistent than you give him credit for, Kubota. You should know by now he'll just chase you until you're too tired out to fight anymore."**_

A groan left the brunette as she rolled onto her side and buried her head under her pillow, trying to drown out the cat's laughter. " _Shut up, Kumoraku..you don't know that!"_

She couldn't -no, _wouldn't_ \- fail, no matter the cost, she thought, setting her jaw firmly. Kumoraku was wrong; there was no way she could already be in too deep. She'd figure out a way to friendzone the Uzumaki, no matter how long it took.

She ignored the little voice in her head that tried to warn her that if she took too long to establish boundaries, it might not matter anymore.

* * *

 _That's it for now peeps. :3_ _ _Next chapter, we'll be following the anime story line, which means putting Nozomi into the Kazekage Rescue Arc, which has been interesting thus far. So, the next several chapters may feel a bit redundant, but I'm doing my best to make things different enough to keep ya'll entertained. My beta said it was fun to read- hopefully you guys will think so too. If not...try not to be too harsh. I'm actually nervous about writing this arc. ^^;__

 _ _Thankfully, Nozomi won't be along on every single mission from the anime, so I'll have freedom to delve more into her personal growth and the relationship with her teachers and the likes. So bear with me until then. I've been lacking motivation and energy to write, but with Sunday being my birthday I figured I could post the first chapter at least. Send me some reviews for my birthday, and maybe I'll find the motivation to continue!  
__

 _ _Till next time, everyone~!__

 _ _~NinjaKitty91__


	2. Kazekage Rescue Arc Pt 1

_Another month, another update! I actually intended to update sooner but a hospital trip knocked me off schedule, and I've been struggling with finding the motivation to write..._

 _So anywhoodaloo! Here's the start of the Kazekage Rescue Arc. Originally I'd hoped to have it knocked out in 4 or 5 chapters but I just finally finished the 4th chapter and there's still a ways to go so we may be looking at more like 6-8 chapters..xD I'm rewatching episodes and taking notes as I write this to try and get things as accurate as possible, but I'm still human so I may make mistakes, in which case you can feel free to kindly point them out so I can fix them. ^^ Okay, that's enough rambling! Enjoy! :)_

* * *

The next day, Nozomi was determined to have a better training session. Even if Saera hadn't said as much, she knew the woman was disappointed in her performance the day before, and she wanted to make it up to her.

As she got ready for the day, the brunette did a mental checklist of all that she'd been learning. ' _I have to really impress Saera-sensei today.'_ She thought firmly.

To her surprise, when she opened the door to leave she found the Hokage's assistant, Shizune standing outside.

"Hi?" Nozomi greeted, looking both confused and curious as she watched the woman lower her fist, having been about to knock.

"Good morning, Nozomi-san." As Shizune met her gaze, the genin could already tell something was amiss. Usually the Hokage's assistant was full of cheer when they met; today her eyes were dimmed, and a shadow of worry covered her face. "Tsunade-sama has requested your presence. Please come quickly!"

One brown eyebrow lifted as the woman confirmed Nozomi's thoughts, and she paused, trying not to let her disappointment show. ' _So much for meeting Saera-sensei on time.'_ She thought, huffing softly. Oh well, if the Hokage had summoned her, it had to be important. Her teacher would just have to wait and understand.

Realizing that Shizune had said her name again, the brunette snapped out of her thoughts and responded with a terse nod. "I'm on my way then." She formed the ram hand seal and vanished in a puff of smoke.

When she appeared outside of the Hokage's office, she couldn't help giving herself a pat on the back. Travel involving the teleportation jutsu had been difficult to learn, but she was able to get a little further each time she used it, which made her think she must be improving. If only her sensei could've seen!

Then again, if she knew Saera, the woman would just call it trivial and dismiss her until she progressed in more important things; namely her control over Kumoraku's chakra. With a shake of her head, the brunette raised her hand and knocked firmly on the door.

Instead of an answer, the door opened, leaving Nozomi gawking as she was met by the blonde she'd just been thinking about! "S-Saera-sensei?" She stammered, pointing a finger up at the woman. "What are you doing here?!"

"My, Nozomi-san. How rude." Saera clicked her tongue and shook her head, though she looked mildly amused at her student's reaction. "I was called here, of course. Just like you." She watched as realization dawned on the girl, smirking. "So, are you going to come in anytime soon? The Hokage hasn't said anything to me, but I have a feeling this is urgent. I mean, why else would she have called both of us here?"

"Oh, uh..yeah." Nozomi stuttered awkwardly, entering the office as her teacher stepped aside and standing in front of the Hokage's desk. When the door had shut, and Saera had come to stand beside her young roommate, the fifth Hokage looked up from the report on her desk, gazing at the two kunoichi.

"Saera. Nozomi." She began, clasping her hands in front of her on the desk. "I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you both here. Since time is of the essence, I'll just cut to the chase. I have a mission for you."

The room was silent as the brunette glanced up at her sensei, but the woman was steadfastly avoiding her gaze, her normally cool exterior appearing slightly upset. Realizing the blonde wasn't going to say anything, Nozomi turned back to the Hokage and flinched as she locked stares with intense, amber orbs.

"What you mean-me-?" The girl sputtered, pointing at herself in confusion. "But I...I thought I wasn't supposed to leave the village, right?" She paused as an idea occurred, and her eyes widened slightly. "...Unless it's about..!"

Rather than answer verbally, Tsunade merely nodded, getting up to look out the window, her back to the brunette as she spoke. "Just this morning I received word that the Hidden Sand's Kazekage was taken captive by the Akatsuki."

Hearing a strangled gasp, she glanced back at the genin over her shoulder. "I'd normally send a team of Jonin or ANBU, but time is not a luxury we can afford, so I have no choice but to send Team Kakashi. There's a chance Naruto will come face to face with the Akatsuki, which is why I'm sending you with them. Understand?"

Nozomi's eyes dimmed slightly as she nodded resolutely. "Don't worry. No matter what it takes, I'll protect him from any Akatsuki we may encounter."

Tsunade nodded with satisfaction, but before she could speak, Saera, who'd been more quiet than usual suddenly interjected. "Fifth Hokage, if I may. Nozomi is still just a genin -she's hardly ready for something like this...why not send a higher level shinobi in her stead?"

The genin in question glanced up at her teacher, looking mystified. This was the first time Saera had ever tried to challenge the Hokage's decisions, much less about one that dealt with her welfare. Could it be that the emotionally distant kunoichi had actually come to care about her enough to fear for her safety outside the village?

Sensing the brunette's thoughts, Saera clenched her jaw. "It's not that I'm worried or anything, but you and the elders want Nozomi to be your _precious_ decoy, right? All I'm saying is that she's too inexperienced to be expected to protect a fellow jinchuuriki from someone as dangerous as the Akatsuki."

Inhaling deeply to calm her irritance with the woman for challenging her, Tsunade resumed her seat again and sighed. "I understand your concern, but it's because of what she _is_ that I am sending her. As a fellow jinchuuriki she's got the power to help Naruto, experienced or not...and some skills are only learned in the heat of battle. You, of _all_ people should understand that."

Nozomi shrank back slightly as she felt an ominous aura begin to flood out of her teacher and flattened her ears. This was bad. For someone claiming not to care, Saera was really getting upset. Knowing it was up to her to stop the appearance of a devious hell fox, the brunette grabbed her sensei's arm.

"Sensei, please! Listen to me!" She cried out. Pupils that were slowly morphing to fuchsia turned on her and she gulped. "Oh, okay, you're listening. Well…" The kunoichi took a deep breath and gazed at the woman firmly.

"I've grown as a kunoichi whether you acknowledge it or not, sensei, and this is my responsibility! I promised I would handle it, and as someone we both know says, I never go back on my word!"

Her argument seemed to stop Saera's transformation as red pupils faded back to cerulean blue, and she began to speak. "Nozomi, I know you've grown...and you are getting better at chakra control. It's just…" The blonde paused, looking for the words to explain her objection. "Look, I know having demonic power makes you feel powerful, but you're still not invincible! Far from it, really. If anything, it just makes you a tougher opponent to kill."

Nozomi's eyebrows knitted together at the woman's words, her eyes narrowing. "Well, that's fine...I just have to be able to endure attacks until backup arrives if something happens, right?" She shot the blonde a wry grin that made her groan, having a feeling she knew what her student was about to say. "What was that you said? Having demonic powers makes me harder to _kill_? If that's the case then I'll be fine!"

Saera ground her teeth together in annoyance as her words were used against her, a scowl marring her normally pretty, if not indifferent facial expression. "Nozomi, listen to what I'm saying! I'm not going on this mission. What if you use Kumoraku's chakra and end up taking _that_ form?" She broke off briefly, noticing the way her pupil's eyes narrowed. "You can't just rush into this without thinking things through! I still say you're not ready!"

Now it was Nozomi's turn to inhale deeply, trying to keep her cool. Losing her temper would only prolong the argument, and she didn't have time for that. "Look, I appreciate your concern, but you're really worrying over nothing. I'll be careful, okay?" She frowned as the woman began to argue and hurried to continue.

"I'm no longer that weakling you took in two years ago, sensei. I can take care of myself, and I'm capable of making my own decisions, even if you don't agree with them." She paused, fixing the blonde with a look of fierce determination. "I'm going, sensei. With or without your blessing."

As Saera glared at the brunette, trying to hide her shock at the girl's uncharacteristic display of defiance, Tsunade cleared her throat, regaining their attention. "It's settled then. Nozomi, report to the village gates as soon as you finish packing. Dismissed."

Nozomi nodded her understanding, and with a low bow of respect, she took her leave, the soft poof behind her confirming that her teacher had done the same.

When she got home, she wasn't all that surprised to find it empty. Saera would more than likely be upset with her for putting her foot down on this subject, and might not even bother coming to see her off on the mission. Truth be told, Nozomi had mixed feelings about the way she'd spoken up in the Hokage's office. It was bold and out of her comfort zone; she didn't normally stand up to her superiors like that, especially not Saera, as much as she yearned to be accepted by the woman.

This time, however, there hadn't been a choice. Saera was clearly unwilling to let her go, and the situation was so bad that she couldn't afford to stay behind. Not when her friend faced such a potentially dangerous confrontation along the way. She'd never forgive herself if Naruto got hurt because she'd let Saera dictate her movements!

Nozomi hurried into her room, gathering the essentials needed for travel, and packed them away in a bag that she slung over her shoulders. Then, stuffing her ninja pouch as full as she could with supplies, the brunette headed to the door. Still no sign of Saera anywhere, she realized with a soft sigh. With one final glance back at her home, the kunoichi bid the place farewell, and the door clicked shut behind her.

She had taken longer than she'd meant to packing, so once she got down the stairs, she took off running, arms out at her sides to help her build speed as was taught in the Academy. As she booked it for the gates, her lips curved up into a small smile.

This was a serious mission, she knew that, and yet...at the same time she couldn't help the excitement coursing through her veins. Not only was she going on a real mission, but she was going with her two best friends -one she'd barely reunited with yesterday after a two year absence!

Nozomi was snapped out of her thoughts as she reached the gates, where she found not only Team Kakashi waiting, but Tsunade, Iruka and...Saera?

The brunette's eyes bulged slightly as she noticed her sensei speaking in hushed tones with Kakashi, and she froze. What on earth was Saera telling him, and why had they both just glanced at her simultaneously?!

Her jaw dropped as a thought struck her, and she shook her head vigorously, willing it away. ' _There's no way...Saera-sensei...she wouldn't tell Kakashi-sensei about my_ _**real**_ _mission, would she?! That-that's not allowed!'_

Frowning, she pushed her worrisome thoughts aside for the moment as she heard a voice and glanced up, locking eyes with the Hokage.

At her questioning look, the woman's amber orbs rolled upward. "I _said_ try not to do anything too reckless." She repeated, careful to keep her voice low enough to avoid anyone else hearing.

"Oh.." A small smile spread across Nozomi's face and she nodded, responding in an equally hushed tone. "I'll do my best."

Glancing back to Saera, the smile faded as she wondered again just what the woman was disclosing to Team Kakashi's leader. It had to be about her, that much she was fairly certain of...but what?

She was just about to ask Tsunade if she knew when the two broke apart, and Kakashi motioned for his team to gather. Nozomi made haste to join the three of them, and Naruto's brows drew together as he saw her.

"Nozomi-chan?" He clearly hadn't been informed of the new addition to the team, yet.

"Hi." The brunette kicked a stone with the toe of her shoe, awkwardly meeting his bemused gaze. "Um...I guess you didn't hear, but the Hokage added another member to your squad for this mission."

"Oh...okay." The blond responded distractedly. "Let's get moving!" He turned away from the village, clearly itching to get moving.

Kakashi nodded, and filled with hope and determination, the team set out.

...Or rather, they tried to. Team Kakashi had only taken a few steps when suddenly a man with long, spiked white hair landed in their path. "Hey there! So, off on a mission, Naruto?" The man, now identified as Jiraiya, the Toad Sannin inquired.

"That's right!" Naruto nodded earnestly.

"Well, good for you, but more importantly-" Turning away from the group, Jiraiya made a beeline for Tsunade. "I've got some disturbing news," He began in a low voice, "The Sand's Kazekage-"

"Yes, I know." Tsunade interrupted nonchalantly, pointing toward Team Kakashi. "I'm dispatching a squad. They're just about to leave."

Jiraiya's gaze traveled back to Team Kakashi, where a grinning Naruto nodded at him before he narrowed his eyes at Tsunade, dropping his voice so low that even Nozomi's ears couldn't pick up what he was saying. As the two Sannin's conversation finished, Jiraiya's attention shifted back to the departing team. "Naruto, I want a word with you."

"Nozomi, you too." Saera stepped forward and grabbed Nozomi's arm. Curious, Sakura watched silently with Kakashi as the brunette was taken several feet away, and Saera stopped to look at her only pupil, arms folded over her chest.

"Okay, so whether I like it or not you're doing this. I get that. Just...be _careful_." There was a pause as the woman broke off, clearly wrestling with some inner turmoil before she went on. "You've still got a ways to go in training, so you have to promise me you'll be careful, and listen to what Kakashi tells you."

"Of course, sensei." Nozomi retorted, slightly amused at the woman's attempts to intimidate her into submission. _If that was all she had..._

It was almost as if Saera had sensed her student's thoughts as her face broke into a combination of a smirk and a glare. "I'm serious. If you do something stupid and die, I'll reanimate you myself and torture the hell out of you! Understand?"

An uneasy smile appeared on Nozomi's face as she nodded quickly, feeling a chill run down her spine. Okay, forget what she'd said before. Her sensei could be darn intimidating when she wanted to be. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna die! I'll be back before you know it!"

She paused, suddenly remembering what she' seen when she arrived. Deciding now would be a good time to find out what Saera had been whispering about, the brunette opened her mouth to speak, but was drowned out when Naruto's voice rang out.

"Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, what are we waiting for?!"

Nozomi's ears perked up at the impatience in her blond friend's voice and she frowned, noticing that he'd forgotten her. He must just be really anxious to leave, she decided. Glancing back at Saera, she gave the woman a small smile. "Well, that's my cue. See ya!"

The brunette hurried after Sakura, who was currently trying to keep up with an impatient Naruto, with Kakashi close behind. The pinkette shot her a knowing look, motioning back toward Saera, but the Kubota's only reply was a shrug. The apologetic grin she shot her friend reminded her they were not alone and therefore couldn't discuss her mission as a decoy openly.

Sakura nodded in understanding, and they turned their focus onto the orange clad boy up ahead. "Hey! Wait for us!"

…..

It wasn't long before Team Kakashi met up with Temari, and since they were all headed the same place, the five of them decided to go together. After some time running through the trees, Kakashi motioned for his team to stop. "Alright, we'll stop here for a while."

Nozomi sighed with relief at the announcement and sat down against a tree trunk, watching as the silver haired man began to build a campfire. Placing a hand over her mouth to stifle a yawn, she let her shoulders sag slightly. They'd already covered quite a bit of ground today, and she couldn't help wondering how much further they intended to go before stopping for the night. Naruto was pushing them to go faster, constantly breaking formation, and trying to keep up with him was exhausting.

 _When they had finally managed to catch up with him, he'd gone into a rant that in the process had opened Nozomi's eyes to some things she wasn't aware of. 'So, the Kazekage's a jinchuuriki too?! Well, that explains why the Akatsuki went after him, too.' Her mission may be to protect Naruto, but the idea of someone else like him suffering made her heart ache. In that moment, she came to the decision that rescuing Gaara was just as important as protecting Naruto, and she'd accomplish both no matter the cost. 'Don't worry, Kazekage-sama...we're coming for you!''_

 _Blazing red eyes filled with tears as the boy ran, pushing himself and his team to go faster all the while listing his similarities with the Kazekage. "I've gotta hurry! I don't have a second to waste! This time will be different...I'm gonna be there to save him!" As the blond spoke, he'd subconsciously began to use the Nine Tails' chakra, and Nozomi watched as his hurried movements caused the branches to splinter under the demon's chakra._

"All right, break time's over. Let's get moving."

Nozomi jumped at the man's voice and looked up, surprised. Had she really been lost in thought the whole time? Realizing that everyone was waiting on her, the brunette scrambled to her feet and uttered a hasty apology before they set off once more.

A short while later, they reached what looked like the beginning of the desert. However, before they could take another step, a sandstorm kicked up and with Temari's insistence, the group took cover in a cave until it passed. Naruto continuously grumbled about how he couldn't just do _nothing_ , while Nozomi leaned against the wall with a sigh, silently praying it wouldn't be a long wait.

…..

After what felt like hours, the sandstorm finally subsided, and Team Kakashi set out again. Relief swelled in their chests as the entrance to the Hidden Sand Village came into view, urging them to run even faster.

Inside the village, the group was greeted by Sand ninja who quickly briefed them on what was going on. Horrified to learn that the Akatsuki had not only gotten Gaara, but Kankuro as well, Temari took off for the hospital with Team Kakashi close in pursuit.

Nozomi, who'd been caught up admiring the Sand's architectural differences from that of the Leaf, glanced back in surprise as her team took off without her and tore after them, not wanting to be left behind.

By the time she caught up, she knew she'd missed something, and it wasn't because Sakura and Temari were already assessing Kankuro's condition. It was Naruto's position that puzzled her. He was locked in a showdown with a short, grey haired woman, and appeared to be struggling against her.

"What's going on here?!" The brunette hurried to her friend's aid, scowling at the elderly woman. Naruto didn't seem to hear her as he kept his eyes fixed ahead, brows knit together in confusion and anger.

"What do you think you're doin' attacking Kakashi-sensei like that? You wrinkly old prune!"

Rather than answer, the old woman lunged backward, declaring her vengeance on the White Fang while glaring at Kakashi, who flinched uncomfortably. "No no no! You see, I'm not-"

The revenge-crazed woman ignored his protest, shouting that the time for talk was over, but before she could attack, she was stopped by an elderly man who had bushy, white eyebrows that drooped down to his jawline. "Take a closer look at the man, sis. It's true there's a resemblance, but this one is not the White Fang."

As the elderly woman listened to the man's argument, she reluctantly came to agree that he had a point. "Oh well, never mind!"

' _Seriously? She attacks one of us and thinks that she can just blow it off like nothing?!'_ Nozomi thought in disbelief, sweat dropping and flattening her ears as the woman burst into a fit of high pitched laughter.

It was then that Sakura, preparing to use her medical skills to help Kankuro, asked the rest of them to clear out, and so Naruto, Kakashi, Nozomi and the two elders shuffled out into the hallway. As there was no room for her on the bench, Nozomi leaned against the wall beside Kakashi, listening as Naruto struck up a conversation with him.

"Who the heck is this White Fang of the Leaf guy that made the old lady so angry? Got any idea?"

"That's a tricky one. How to put it? He was...well, in a word...he was my father."

As the two elders on the opposite end of the bench began questioning Kakashi, Nozomi stared at the man in awe. She probably should've expected as much for him to have been mistaken as the White Fang, but she hadn't, and it had taken her by surprise. "So the White Fang was your father? What was he like..?" She couldn't help asking, wanting to be included in the discussion.

Before Kakashi could come up with an answer, however, Naruto peeked around him, eyebrows arched in confusion. "Nozomi-chan! What are _you_ doing here?"

The world seemed to stop moving altogether as Nozomi processed his question looking stunned. "Wh-what do you mean, what am I doing here? I told you, didn't I? Tsunade-sama sent me as your fourth teammate! Or did you forget?"

"What? No way!" The blond retorted as he got up, hands out in protest. "I just wasn't expecting _you_."

"But! I was there at the gates! Why else would I be there if not to go on the mission with you?" Nozomi replied looking both frustrated and confused as the blond rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I just thought you had come to see me off I guess...Usually Grandma Tsunade would send someone we've worked with before, like Kiba, or Shikamaru."

His words were like a punch to the gut as she realized just what he was implying, and the brunette stepped back. "Oh...I see."

"But that doesn't mean-"

"-It's because I'm a girl, and not as experienced as your other friends, isn't it?" Nozomi turned her back on the boy to hide the hurt in her eyes as she began to walk away. "Well, I'm sorry she didn't send somebody more _qualified_."

"What?! Wait, that's not what I meant -ttebayo! Come back!" Naruto protested, ignoring the pointed stares he knew he was getting for making such a ruckus in the hallway. When she ignored him and picked up her pace, he started to run after her, but was brought to a halt as Kakashi stood and clamped a hand onto his shoulder.

"What the?!" Frustrated, the boy glared back at Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei! Why'd you stop me?!"

"Don't go too far, Nozomi!" The silver haired jonin called, ignoring the boy's question. He waited until he was certain the brunette was out of earshot before shifting to the boy under his hold. "Why? Because, intentional or not, you hurt her."

"I know that, why do you think I was chasing after her?!" Naruto exploded, looking vexed. "I wanted to apologize!"

"It's good that you realized your mistake, Naruto, but somehow I doubt she wants to see you right now." Came the man's calm reply, only serving to further the blond's annoyance. "The best thing you can do for now is just give her some space."

Naruto's shoulders sagged as he begrudgingly admitted the man was right and reluctantly sat back down. "Fine...But I still don't understand why _you_ didn't say anything to stop her. We're supposed to stay together as a team, -ttebayo!"

"Well, _I'm_ not the one who pissed her off now, am I?" The masked jonin turned to him and raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed.

"Please, Kakashi-sensei. Someone needs to check on her.." Noticing the skeptical raise of Kakashi's brow, the spiky haired boy growled. "Listen to me, I _know_ her. When she's upset like this, she shuts others out bottles up her feelings until she's ready to burst. That's when she runs away!"

His eyes glazed over as he recalled a training session where he'd pushed her too hard, and when she'd collapsed, he teased her a bit too harshly. The brunette had gone silent, and by the time he realized there was a problem and asked what was wrong she'd run off. Luckily, her stamina wasn't at par with his at the time, so he'd been able to catch up to her.

This time was different. He had no idea what her energy levels were now, and they weren't in the Leaf Village. It would be really inconvenient if she were to lose her cool and run off into the desert.

"Alright, Naruto." The boy was snapped out of his thoughts, and he looked over to see Kakashi stand up. "If it's that much of a concern for you, _I'll_ go check in on her. You stay here."

He really wanted to be the one to check on his friend since he had been the one to upset her, but Kakashi was probably right about her not wanting to see him. It was obvious she'd been hurt by his words, but he still wasn't exactly sure what he'd said to set her off. All he knew was that he'd really messed up somehow. He'd gotten a glimpse of her face just before she turned around and seen the hurt on her face.

With a sigh, Naruto watched as his sensei headed the same way Nozomi had gone, frowning. He clutched his chest firmly as he recalled her stunned expression earlier, feeling a stab of guilt in his heart.

' _Nozomi-chan…Whatever you thought you heard, I didn't mean it…'_

…..

"Hmph, how dare he. Acting all shocked that I'm here when I've made plenty of effort to make myself known, and then he goes and implies I'm not good enough for this mission!" Nozomi fumed.

The minute she stepped outside, her anger melted into sadness, and she leaned heavily against the hospital wall, gazing up at the darkening sky, which made her realize they'd been at the hospital longer than she thought.

Closing her eyes in defeat, the brunette allowed herself to slide down onto the sand, pulling her knees to her chest with a breathy sigh. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. If it weren't my for responsibility to protect you from the Akatsuki, I'm sure Tsunade-sama _would_ have sent more competent help."

"You really should be more cautious when ranting about such sensitive information."

Eyes widening, Nozomi's gaze shot upward. "Kakashi-sensei!" She gasped, scrambling to her feet when she saw the copy ninja standing in front of her. "What are you doing here?!"

"A little bird told me that you might be thinking about running away." Came the jonin's reply, and she groaned, slapping her face with her palm.

"It was Naruto, wasn't it?" When Kakashi nodded, her brows drew together into a scowl. "I only ever did that _one_ time, and it's still haunting me all these years later..."

"You know Naruto." The sharingan user shrugged nonchalantly. "He never forgets things...and if he's been given reason to worry once, he'll continue to over the same thing until you convince him not to anymore."

"Yeah...I guess you're right." A weak chuckle escaped Nozomi's lips, and she flattened her ears nervously. "So…how much of that did you hear, exactly…?"

"Enough to know that you have an entirely different reason for coming on this mission than retrieving Gaara." The silver haired man replied, eying her calmly. "Now, what's this about you and the Akatsuki?"

His eyebrows rose as he took in her outward appearance. As tensed as her body was right now, Naruto may have been right to assume she'd run. Stepping closer, he watched as the girl backed up against the wall, cutting off any means of escape, and folded his arms across his chest.

"You might as well just tell me. I am your leader for this mission, so I have the right to know." There was a pause as he noticed the defiant gleam in the girl's eyes and frowned. He needed a different approach if he was going to get anything out of her. Glancing off to the side, he smirked under his mask as an idea formed.

"I'm sure _Naruto_ would be very interested to know what you're _really_ up to on this mission. Although, knowing him, he'll also probably be upset you kept something like this from him. Buuuut, if you'd prefer to talk to him instead, I understand, since you know him much better than you know _me_." With a casual shrug, the man turned and began walking toward the hospital doors. "I'll just go and get him. Be right back."

"No, wait!"

' _She fell for it, just like I figured she would.'_ Kakashi stopped halfway through the door, a devious grin hiding beneath his mask as he glanced back. "Yes…?"

Nozomi clenched her teeth, clearly unhappy as she stepped forward. "I'll tell you what you want to know, just don't get Naruto-kun involved. He _can't_ know about this."

Seeing the defiance gone from her eyes, Kakashi gave a close eyed grin and spun to face her quickly. "Very well. Let's go somewhere we can talk privately then. Just in case he disobeys my orders."

In spite of her obvious reluctance, the brunette nodded, and he led her up the side of a neighboring building, stopping on the roof. Sitting down and dangling his legs, Kakashi gestured for her to join him and she did, with a sigh.

The air between them was tense and silent as she struggled to figure out what to say, finally slumping her shoulders and looking at him defeatedly. "So..um..what all did you want me to tell you?"

In response, Kakashi looked down at her, his one visible eye seeming to pierce through her soul as he stared firmly at her. "Everything."

…..

The talk didn't last all that long as, to Nozomi's shock, Kakashi already knew quite a bit about her decoy status, confirming her suspicions that _was_ what Saera had been telling him at the gate. Her fists clenched at her sides as she tried not to be angry at the woman, silently telling herself there must be a reason for her betrayal, but all she could come up with was that it was payback for her boldness in Hokage Tower.

Kakashi had interrupted her thoughts then, saying that he would try not to interfere in her mission, but couldn't promise not to step in if she tried to take the Akatsuki on herself.

Puzzled, Nozomi had tilted her head to the side, frowning up at him. "But why? You shouldn't have reason to concern yourself with _me_. If anything, you don't even _know_ me-"

"Oh, I don't?" The man interrupted, smirking under his mask. "As I recall, we spent a fair amount of time training together the last couple of years."

"...Oh yeah, that's right." A sheepish look came over the brunette's face as he spoke. A couple years ago, Tsunade had called her to her office to discuss her progress as a ninja. Upon learning of Saera's refusal to teach her anything but the mastery of demon's chakra, she'd assigned Kakashi to help the young kunoichi get up to speed. The sessions were every other day, in between her training with Saera, which had quickly drained her, but they had proven useful. Nozomi doubted she'd know any jutsu now if not for the silver haired man.

Shaking her head to clear away the thoughts, she redirected her attention to the masked jonin and frowned. "Even so, I'm just a stand in on this mission. Why worry about me?"

To her shock, Kakashi shook his head, clapping her on the shoulder. "Because it's my duty to protect all of my precious comrades. That includes you."

Nozomi had never before been told even indirectly that she was part of someone's team, so his words had rendered her speechless, and she could only nod in understanding. That was when Kakashi had stood up, suggesting that they get back to the rest of their team, and despite her reluctance to see Naruto so soon, she'd agreed.

Now, she stood back, listening as Kakashi struck up a conversation with Baki about the site where Kankuro had been recovered. As she stood, watching the two of them, Nozomi was vaguely aware of a sheepish looking Naruto inviting her to sit with him on the bench, but she didn't respond.

Finally the blonde came to stand in front of her, shoulders slumping as he tried in vain to get her attention. "Nozomi...Nozomi-chan?"

He frowned when she seemed to stare right through him, a blank look on her face and groaned. "I'm still not sure what I did but...Gah! Just hit me it you're still upset! That always makes Sakura-chan feel better!"

Naruto ducked his head, awaiting a punishment that never came as Nozomi snapped to attention and, seeing him in such a strange manner, she sidestepped away, acting overly interested in Kakashi's conversation.

Left standing by himself, the blond boy groaned inwardly and sagged his shoulders before turning around to go listen to Kakashi as well.

…..

After an intense procedure, Sakura had removed most of the poison from Kankuro's system, and using those same toxins, she was able to create an antidote, much to Temari and Baki's relief. Upon waking up, a grateful Kankuro provided them with a valuable clue that would aid them in locating Gaara and his captors: a piece of Sasori's cloak.

Wasting no time, Kakashi summoned his ninja hounds, who sniffed the scrap of cloth and got to work. It wasn't long before they returned with good news; the hideout had been discovered.

Naruto was adamant to follow Pakkun and the others then and there, but Baki offered them rooms to sleep in, and Kakashi accepted.

Kneeling down to pick up her bag, Nozomi was surprised when she glanced up and locked eyes with Naruto, and she quickly turned away, making his grin fade.

"Hey, wait.." He reached out to grab her arm but missed as she turned to follow Kakashi.

The blond watched, pouting as she fell into step beside Sakura. It was obvious that she was avoiding him, and he couldn't help the sigh that slipped past his lips, trailing behind as they made their way to the rooms they'd be staying in for the night.

Glancing back ever so slightly, Nozomi caught the look of defeat on his face and went back to staring ahead, frowning. She wouldn't fall for his little guilt trip. Not when it was his fault she'd gotten upset with him to begin with. She was aware of how many times he'd tried to grab her attention since she returned, but she wasn't in the mood to look at him, let alone talk. He'd just have to sweat it out for now, until _she_ felt ready to make up.

…..

It was with great relief that Nozomi stepped into the room she and Sakura were sharing. She couldn't believe her luck. Baki had split the team by gender into two rooms, and while she normally had no qualms sleeping in the same room as the guys, tonight she just didn't have the strength for it. Not when she knew Naruto would still be trying to make her talk to him.

"Did you hear me, Nozomi-chan?" Came Sakura's voice, snapping the brunette out of her thoughts. "I guess I'll take that as a no." The pinkette added, shaking her head when she was met with an apologetic, toothy grin. "I asked you which bed you want, or does it matter?"

"Um...that one." Nozomi pointed to the bed closest to the window.

Sakura nodded and took the other one, sitting down and pulling out her pajamas. Realizing that the brunette was still standing in the closed doorway, she tilted her head curiously. "Hey, are you okay? You're quieter than usual today."

"Huh?" Gold eyes lifted from the floor to lock with green before the cat eared girl gave a stiff nod. "Oh, I'm fine. Just reeling from the day's events." She replied.

"Oh, yeah. It was pretty crazy, huh?"

Nozomi nodded in Sakura's direction before taking out her own pajamas. As she disappeared into the bathroom, the pink haired girl couldn't help shaking her head at the girl's behavior. They'd been friends for years, and yet she was still too shy to change in the same room, despite the fact that it was normal for girls their age to do so. With a shrug, Sakura changed into her own pajamas and lay back on her bed, closing her eyes. It had been a long, crazy day, and tomorrow promised to be even more so.

The door to the bathroom creaked, and her eyes fluttered open as she watched Nozomi cross the room to sit on her bed. From the vacant look on her face, it was obvious that whatever was on her mind was bothering her.

' _Huh, now that I think about it, Naruto looked pretty down tonight, too. I thought it was just because he wants to go save Gaara, but maybe that's not all there is to it.'_ Deciding it was time to get to the bottom of things, the pinkette sat up and turned so she was facing her friend.

"Nozomi-chan, did something happen between you and Naruto?"

"Wha?! Why would you think something like that?" The minute she heard the boy's name, Nozomi's fur had stood up on end, making Sakura believe she was right.

"I don't know. I just remember you disappeared earlier and that idiot wouldn't stop calling you...Then, when Kakashi-sensei said to get our things and turn in for the night, you left the room and completely ignored Naruto. He looked really sad…" Nozomi's face fell, and the pinkette gasped and leaned in closer. "I knew it! Something happened, right? What is it? Naruto didn't say something rude to you, did he?!"

The was a long pause before the brunette shook her head, finally letting her gaze meet her friend's. "Not exactly. I just…" There was a pause as she inhaled softly. "Do you think Tsunade-sama made a mistake by sending me and not someone your team's worked with before?"

Sakura tilted her head in confusion and frowned. "I don't understand what you're getting at, Nozomi-chan. What's going on?"

There was a brief pause before Nozomi described Naruto's reaction to seeing her earlier, including his words that had implied that she wasn't adequate help before breaking off and looking away.

"I know he probably didn't mean it, but he's probably right about you guys needing someone better than me. The only reason I'm even _here_ is because I'm his decoy. Not because I'm some super powerful kunoichi."

"I had a feeling that was why you came along on this mission." Sakura interjected, and Nozomi nodded, frowning as another memory surfaced in her mind.

"Oh, by the way, Kakashi-sensei knows about it now, too."

Seeing the startled look that appeared on her friend's face, the brunette sweat dropped. "I left in a huff after Naruto-kun said what he did. I guess I was ranting, and Kakashi-sensei had come after me and heard the whole thing." Grimacing, she clenched a fist in her lap. "Come to find out, Saera-sensei already told him about a good majority of my mission, so he wasn't even surprised!"

Sakura just stared at the girl, surprise etched into her features as she let everything sink in. "Wow….leave it to Kakashi-sensei to know what's really going on…As for Naruto..." The pinkette's expression changed from calm to furious as she punched her bed so hard the pillow fell off the edge. "What an idiot!"

Inhaling harshly, she looked back at Nozomi, who had shrank back slightly and shook her head. "He's so lucky we're already in for the night...I'd march right over and punch his stupid face! I can't believe he was so insensitive, and to _you_ of all people!"

"Um...Sakura-chan, calm down." The brunette laughed weakly, pinning her ears uncomfortably. "There's no need to go _that_ far.." No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she was met with narrowed jade eyes, and she sweat dropped. "What?"

"I can _tell_ his words hurt your feelings." Sakura scowled. "Stop acting so tough." Seeing the way her friend's shoulders sagged, her facial expression softened, and she moved to sit beside the girl, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Naruto is really worried about Gaara. He wants this rescue to go off without a hitch...so maybe he _was_ thinking up plans revolving around someone else, but that doesn't matter. He'll just have to learn how to fight alongside you. It was gonna happen sooner or later." She pause, a small, knowing grin on her face. "Knowing that dork, now that he's aware you're here, he's _thrilled_. Or he _will_ be once he can get his mind off this whole situation."

Nozomi grimaced and looked down at the mattress. "I'm sure that's all it was...but it still made me feel small and insignificant. For such a close friend to imply -even unintentionally- that I'm not good enough for his team...well...I just don't know." She sighed and shook her head. "All I _do_ know is that I don't want to _see_ him right now."

Sakura said nothing for a while, simply patting the girl's shoulder as she nodded understandingly. Finally, after a few minutes, she broke the silence that had fallen over them. "It'll be okay. Just focus on the mission for now, and try not to think about that idiot, okay?"

Laughing weakly, Nozomi gave the pinkette a grateful smile and nodded. "Thanks, Sakura-chan. You're a good friend."

Without warning, Sakura pulled the girl into a hug, and she returned the embrace, marveling at how comforting such a simple gesture could be. A few seconds later, the pinkette pulled away, stifling a yawn.

"Well, today was really busy, and I'm super tired so I'm going to get some rest now. You should sleep too, Nozomi-chan."

"Yeah, okay. Good night, Sakura-chan." The brunette watched as her friend crawled into bed before laying down and gazing out at the moon.

She really ought to get to sleep, but at the same time, her mind wouldn't shut up, too emotionally wound up. Why had it hurt so much when Naruto expressed concern about her qualifications for the mission? It wasn't like she considered herself to be on the same level as him. She knew he was far ahead of her as a ninja! So why _had_ his doubtfulness hurt her?

No matter how long she sought an answer, it evaded her, and time flew past. Morning would arrive soon, and day two of their mission would begin. ' _I'll just have to do my best to show him I can be useful on this mission.'_ The brunette thought as she closed her eyes, falling into a deep, restless sleep.

* * *

 _I apologize again for the delayed update, but I also hope you enjoyed this next installment. Anyways, let me know what you thought!  
_

 _Seriously. Reviews are like food for my muse. The more of them I get, the more excited I am and that makes me wanna write faster! So if you liked it and want more,_ _ _drop me a review and tell me!_ Until then, see ya next month!_

 _~NinjaKity91_


	3. Kazekage Rescue Arc Pt 2

_Welp, it's March, and that means another update~! I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. It's extremely difficult to write by the episodes like this but I am doing my absolute best. :D Before we begin, I just want to give a quick shout out to those who favorited the story, and reviewed the last chapter! Your kind words really made my day, so thank you! Now then, let's pick up where we left off, shall we?_

* * *

The day didn't get off to the best start, despite Nozomi's best intentions. After a fitful rest, she opened her eyes to discover the room empty, and quickly came to the conclusion that Sakura left without her. She vaguely remembered her teammate telling her it was time to get up, but she must have fallen back asleep because that was the last thing she recalled.

Stumbling out of bed, the brunette hurriedly got dressed, brushed her hair and rushed outside, where she confirmed that she was the last of Team Kakashi to arrive.

Being careful not to draw attention to herself, Nozomi joined her team, who was watching Temari argue with Baki about whether she and a group of Sand ninja would be joining team Kakashi. Apparently, the council had ruled that it would be more effective for them to stay and patrol the perimeter while leaving the Kazekage's rescue to the Konoha ninja.

"Well _I'm_ going!" Shouted a familiar voice, causing everybody to stop and glance up where Granny Chiyo could be seen perched on the edge of a building. She peered down at them, a smirk stretching her already wrinkled face. "If a Sand shinobi is needed then I'm the one to go!"

Nozomi frowned, crossing her arms thoughtfully. Would the old woman be of use, or was she just some old timer they'd end up having to babysit? She seriously hoped it was the former and not the latter.

A soft nudge in the ribs brought her out of her musings, and she glanced up to see a grinning Sakura. "I see you _finally_ got up. How late did you stay up, anyways?"

In response, a sheepish grin appeared on the brunette's face as she laughed awkwardly. "Ah, I didn't mean to stay up, you know. I laid down, but Kumoraku wouldn't shut up, and...well…"

She trailed off as her mind drifted back to the previous night. As she'd lain awake, trying to figure out why she'd gotten so upset with her friend, Kumoraku had suddenly piped up, a teasing note in her voice. " _ **It's natural. You've begun to realize your feelings. Being looked at as inferior by a potential mate has hurt your pride. I can see the signs because it's the same way with us demons."**_

Grumbling that she hadn't wanted to know all that, and trying in vain to convince the shadow cat she was wrong, Nozomi had shut her out to get rest, not realizing such peace would elude her for hours.

"...You don't know how hard it is to sleep with someone in your head constantly until you've lived through it." The brunette muttered, forcing the memory away and glancing at Naruto briefly. "I'm sure Naruto-kun would say the same thing if you asked him."

"Don't treat me like a fossil!"

Surprised by the sudden outburst, Nozomi and Sakura looked up from their conversation just in time to see Granny Chiyo plummet from the building. She landed solidly between the three teenage ninja, startling them.

Sweat dropping, Nozomi glanced at the elderly woman, frowning. ' _Is she crazy?!'_

Baki and the others attempted to discourage the Sand elder from going, warning her of the dangers of the expedition, but the woman merely scoffed, brushing their concerns aside, adding that she was retired and would do as she pleased. "After all, it's been awhile since I doted on my adorable grandchild."

Nobody seemed to be able to stand up the the woman as she followed the team of Leaf ninja outside of the village.

Before leaving, Kakashi turned to Baki, saying that they would head out on their own.

Wanting involvement in her brother's rescue, Temari promised to catch up with Team Kakashi; Baki promised to try and convince the council to change their mind.

"Heh, by the time you catch up with us we'll already have rescued Gaara!" Naruto interjected, looking determined.

Kakashi nodded, and with everyone wishing them luck, he and his team plus Granny Chiyo set out to rescue Gaara.

…..

"Naruto, can I ask you a question? How long do you think the Akatsuki have been after you?" Sakura glanced at the blond who in turn shrugged as they leapt from branch to branch.

"I don't know." He admitted before surging ahead of the group as he'd done before.

"Two members of the Akatsuki came to the Leaf looking for Naruto once." Kakashi began, overhearing their discussion, "But it's been three years since then, and no sign of them. Now they're back."

When Sakura questioned their reason for waiting so long to act, he paused. "It could be they wanted to act before this but for some reason they couldn't. Maybe because Master Jiraiya was around and they didn't want to face him."

"That's not it." Chiyo interjected, causing everyone to glance back at her in surprise. "From what I've learned, there was an entirely different reason they had to wait this long."

"What reason?" Naruto asked, prompting to woman to launch into her explanation. "If you're going to try and draw out the tailed beast that dwells within, a great deal of preparation is involved. They just needed some more time."

Sakura took the opportunity to ask what she meant by "tailed beast", and once she'd gotten over her surprise that an apprentice of Tsunade didn't know about such a thing, the Sand elder went into a detailed explanation about the creatures, explaining that there were nine different beasts, and each had a different number of tails and characteristics.

Nozomi, who'd been silently listening to the conversation glanced over at Naruto, who seemed to be getting further ahead of them with each leap. ' _So….there are more than just Naruto-kun and the Kazekage with tailed beasts in them?'_ She thought, frowning.

A part of her was curious what the other tailed beasts looked like, while at the same time she was glad she hadn't met any of them. Just going off what Naruto had told her when they were kids, the beasts were pretty foul tempered, and dangerous. Definitely not someone she'd leap with joy to get a chance to meet.

"Cat kunoichi."

Nozomi's ears perked up at the four syllables, and realizing she'd been addressed (no matter how blunt the term used), she glanced to the side, where Granny Chiyo was eying her critically. "Um...yes?"

The grey haired woman continued to stare at her for a moment before she spoke. "What _you_ carry is no tailed beast. What _is_ it?"

"Oh! I...don't know all that much about it, but.." The brunette blushed uncomfortably as she realized that not only was Chiyo listening, but Sakura and Kakashi as well. "My….parents told me when I was young. My old clan once tried to create its own jinchuuriki with a demon called a shadow cat. As you can tell, it had...unique side effects."

"I see." The Sand elder nodded thoughtfully.

A low growl from ahead made Nozomi's ears press back as she realized that Naruto must have heard as well, and she frowned, not enjoying the spotlight. Thankfully, nobody asked any more questions, and the subject was forgotten as the group of ninja landed on the ground, continuing on at a breakneck speed.

They were all forced to slow down as Kakashi came to a halt, visibly tensing up as he threw his arms out at his sides. "Everybody, stop!"

The other four ninjas stopped, frowning as each of them noticed the man standing in their path.

It was Sakura who broke the silence, hard eyes focused on the dark haired stranger. "Who's that?"

Rather than respond, however, Naruto's eyes remained peeled to the Akatsuki member. "I know you." The man's robe flapped as a howling gust of wind kicked up, serving to make his appearance all the more intimidating. "Uchiha Itachi!"

A chill raced down Nozomi's spine, causing her to shudder unintentionally. Itachi's stare was cold and calculating as his eyes flitted over each of them; a single, horizontal line was scratched through the leaf on his headband, symbolizing his betrayal of Konoha, and he wore a black cloak emblazoned with red clouds.

He certainly fit the profile she'd been given during her briefing of what little was known about the Akatsuki. What really gave him away, however, were the three tomoes visible in his vacant red eyes. Nozomi had no doubt that this was the famed Sharingan.

"So, that's the one." Remarked Chiyo as she eyed the Uchiha critically. "The child who wiped out his entire clan."

"Kakashi, Naruto. It's been a while." Spoke the rogue ninja, eyeing them darkly.

His voice brought Nozomi back from her inner musings, and she frowned, listening as Naruto responded to the former Leaf ninja, anger in both his stance and his voice.

"I wasn't enough for you, huh? You had to go after Gaara as well!" The blond pointed toward Itachi with a look of pure disgust on his face. "I'll destroy every last one of you!"

Nozomi narrowed her eyes angrily at the Uchiha. This was a member of the organization that treated jinchuuriki like monsters, disregarding their feelings completely. It was because of people like him that her life had been forfeit as a decoy, and though she'd accepted her fate, she couldn't help the anger she felt now. Whether Itachi was involved in Gaara's capture or not, he would pay.

"Everyone, whatever you do, don't look him in the eyes!"

At Kakashi's warning, Nozomi flinched and lowered her stare to the Uchiha's cloak, noting that he'd raised one hand in what appeared to be the Seal of Confrontation, implying that he was preparing to attack. Meanwhile, Kakashi explained what they were up against

"Itachi's genjutsu is a visual jutsu, which means avoid eye contact with him and his jutsu can't take effect."

"Yeah, that I know." Naruto remarked.

Nozomi shot Kakashi a confused stare. ' _A person's eyes are the window to their soul that reveal their thoughts and intentions. How do we fight someone without that kind of advantage?'_

"Okay, but then how are we supposed to fight him?" Sakura asked, as if aware of the brunette's thoughts, and both kunoichi watched their sensei, waiting for his answer.

"That's the tricky part." The jonin said after a short pause, as if he too were mulling over the problem. "You have to anticipate his moves by watching his feet, his body."

 _'Of course it would be something crippling like that..'_ Nozomi thought with an inward sigh, turning her attention back to the Akatsuki member, only to realize it was increasingly difficult to keep her eyes averted from his face. She couldn't help the smirk that formed on her face when Sakura again spoke almost exactly what she'd been thinking.

"But that's like fighting with one arm tied behind your back!" The pinkette muttered, clearly frustrated.

Before Kakashi could say anything else on the matter, Granny Chiyo cut in, a thoughtful look on her face. "The Uchiha clan, eh? it's been a long time since I've gone up against the sharingan." Hearing Naruto gasp, she added, "Don't look so surprised. I've been around, and I know there's more than one way to fight a visual jutsu like that."

"Yeah? Like what then?"

Although she was loathe to look away from their opponent, who could attack anytime now, Nozomi followed Naruto's gaze to the Sand elder, praying that she could give them a good, solid strategy.

"If one against one, abandon the field. If two against one take the rear, and he'll yield." Was the old woman's cryptic reply, causing Naruto to look at her in confusion.

"What's that mean?" He asked.

Nozomi thought she might understand what Chiyo was implying, but she remained silent, listening as the woman explained how the sharingan, which couldn't be beaten in single combat, could be countered if two or more faced its wielder.

"If the battle is two against one, then even if one of you is caught in his genjutsu, the other is free to strike from the rear, breaking the genjutsu's spell. Even if your attack from the rear should fail somehow, you're still free to strike your comrade yourself and break the genjutsu that way. So while one of us fights him face to face as a distraction, the rest of us will mount a series of attacks from the rear where his sharingan can't reach."

"I guess ya learn a lotta stuff like that if ya live long enough." Naruto remarked, smirking slightly when he saw Nozomi nod vigorously in agreement. The plan was simple, but it just might work. After all, they had Itachi outnumbered 5 to 1. What were the odds of him being able to fight them _all_ off at once?

Ever eager to get things rolling, the blond glanced toward their opponent determinedly. "Let's go. I'll take the rear-"

He was interrupted by Kakashi, who told him to wait, and he glanced at the man in confusion. "Okay sensei, we're waiting, but what are we waiting for?" he asked impatiently.

Nozomi, who'd been preparing to act as the boy's back up froze as well, frowning at the silver haired jonin. "What's the matter, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Do you have a problem with my way of fighting the sharingan?" Granny Chiyo frowned at Kakashi. "Are you suggesting my methods won't work?"

"No. They work fine against ordinary genjutsu, but what we're dealing with here is something much more complicated." Kakashi remarked, delving into further explanation at the elder's beckoning.

"He uses Mangekyou sharingan. It's far more powerful than any other visual jutsu. It only takes a second, but if he hits you with that jutsu it'll be the longest second you ever lived. Time itself gets warped. What seems like a second in the real world can be hours or days to someone trapped in his jutsu. I know - I wandered around in it for three days, and lost consciousness for more than a week. It's not a genjutsu that can be broken just like that."

"That does sound tricky." Chiyo mused quietly. "What a troublesome fellow this is."

As she listened to Kakashi's detailed account of the Mangekyou sharingan, Nozomi felt a tremor race through her. She knew Itachi was a ninja who ought to be feared, but hearing about his actual abilities frightened her even more so. Now she felt more than a little nervous to go up against him. What if he trapped her in a genjutsu like he'd done to Kakashi-sensei?

 _'C'mon...pull yourself together! You knew you'd be up against dangerous ninja when you accepted this role. This is no time to chicken out! Not when Naruto-kun's life is at stake!'_ Doing a brief double take, the brunette slapped her cheeks lightly, frowning. _'That's right. I can't afford to freeze up now. Not when the Hokage is counting on me!'_

"Very good, Kakashi. I see your sojourn in my Tsukuyomi wasn't wasted." Itachi said, and although she wasn't able to see his entire face, Nozomi was pretty sure he had to be smirking beneath his cloak's collar.

"I learned something else as well." Kakashi was careful not to look at the man as he spoke, his voice steady and confident. "There's a price to pay for using that sharingan. It exhausted you, didn't it? You had to quit before the battle was over. So, in addition to using up a lot of chakra, you risk permanent damage to your eye every time you use that jutsu, don't you Itachi?"

Gold eyes widened, brows arching as Nozomi took in the new bit of information. If what the Hatake said was true, then maybe there wasn't anything to fear. Surely if such a jutsu were so risky Itachi would only use it as a last resort.

 _'So we'll just take him down before he reaches that stage.'_ She decided, returning her attention to Kakashi, who's voice was calm and confident as he continued to lay the facts out before Itachi, who quietly commended him for having learned so much in one encounter.

"I wonder," The masked ninja began, lifting his headband to expose his left eye. "Just how much damage has already been done to your eyesight?"

When his eye opened to reveal a sharingan, the rogue Uchiha tensed, and Nozomi couldn't help smirking. Seeing that eye had surprised her too when she'd first began to train with him, and she'd asked how he had such an eye. This seemed to be a touchy subject, as he'd swiftly changed the subject, reminding her that they were there to train, not talk. After a thorough beating on the training grounds, she'd decided against asking again, and had since then gotten used to seeing the sharingan.

"I underestimated you back then, I admit it." Kakashi spoke again, causing his three comrades to look at him in surprise. "But I am not the fool I used to be. Things aren't gonna go the same way this time, I promise you that."

"Yeah, don't go thinking I'm the same kid either. A lot of things have changed since then." Naruto cut in, smirking.

 _'We've all changed. We're no longer inexperienced trainees who can barely defend themselves...we're full fledged ninja!'_ Nozomi mused, glancing from Naruto to Sakura silently. A small smirk appeared on her face briefly as she glanced back to Naruto. _'I'll show you that I'm not a weakling, but someone capable of helping and protecting you...just watch!'_

Before anybody could make a move, Kakashi glanced at Naruto, commanding him to leave Itachi to him, and the group of Konoha ninja frowned at him. When Naruto accused him of making them sit back and do nothing, however, the silver haired man quickly declined the fact, stating that he needed them to cover him. "I wish I could say, 'You guys go on ahead; I can handle this alone.' But I never make the same mistake twice."

 _'That's right, something like this happened before.'_ Nozomi realized, recalling the story Sakura had told her about their mission in the Land of Waves. Her hand clenched at her side as she began to tremble, though this time it was not from fear, but excitement. _'This time I'm here, too!'_

"It's time you came with me, Naruto." Itachi pointed toward Naruto, making the brunette bristle, and she subconsciously moved a little closer to the blond, glowering in the man's direction. If he wanted Naruto, he'd have to go through her.

"Me first!" Kakashi raced forward, surprising them as he ran toward Itachi, who caught his punch, stopping all movement. Suddenly, Naruto darted into the fray, a rasengan charged, and Nozomi frowned. What was he attacking? She didn't see anyone...Her eyes widened as she realized the blond must already be under a genjutsu.

"Nozomi-chan, hold on!" Sakura called as the brunette ran after Naruto, but her warning fell on deaf ears as all Nozomi cared about was releasing her friend from the genjutsu.

Before Nozomi could reach him, an Itachi clone intercepted her, pushing her back further with each swipe of his kunai. With a growl, she weaved a series of hand signs. "Koori Tsume no Jutsu!"

A frosty sensation shot through her hand as her claws were encased in large, pointed chunks of ice; the flow of her chakra was the only thing preventing the loss of feeling in her fingers, as it sustained her regular temperature while keeping the ice in tact.

"I won't let you have him!" Nozomi shouted, lunging toward the Itachi clone. His kunai met her claws with a harsh _clang_ , and after a few minutes, the clone withdrew, scowling.

Nozomi snickered. "I know what you're up to, Uchiha, but it won't work. This ice is stabilized with chakra- it won't break!"

"It won't, huh? What if I do this?"

The brunette shrieked slightly and leapt back, narrowly dodging the massive fireball he sent after her. Remembering Sakura and Granny Chiyo, she glanced back to see if they were okay but the two kunoichi were not there, and she realized belatedly that the clone had managed to separate her from the others.

Frowning, she glanced back toward her assailant and clenched her teeth. _'I'll have to find the others later. Right now I need to beat this guy!'_

Charging forward, she swiped her ice claws at the man's face, but her attack went right through him as he vanished into thin air. Where had he gone? Feeling an ominous presence materialize behind her, she turned, freezing as she locked stares with the blazing red depths of the sharingan.

The brunette gasped, mentally berating herself for falling for such an obvious trap, before she crumpled onto the grass.

…..

 _Where am I?'_

Nozomi observed her surroundings and frowned. It looked like she was in the forest where she'd been fighting Itachi's clone, but...something felt off. Was she under a genjutsu? The deep red, distorted looking sky above confirmed her suspicion, and with a sigh she clapped her hands together and closed her eyes, trying to disrupt the flow of her chakra. She may have failed to learn how to use genjutsu from her role model, Kurenai, but the woman _had_ taught her how to break out of them. She just needed to concentrate.

She quickly realized that this was not an option as a flock of crows swarmed her. "Get away from me!" She shouted, swinging wildly.

To her surprise, the crows merged together, transforming into none other than the man who'd trapped her in this genjutsu to begin with.

"Itachi." Nozomi shot the man a disdainful look, lunging toward him, but her attacks were ineffective as each blow resulted in him changing back into a flock of crows. Stepping back to assess the situation better, she was taken by surprise as the Akatsuki reappeared in front of her, lifting her up by the collar of her jacket.

"Put me down!" The brunette shouted, struggling to free herself. A gasp escaped her as she glanced up into blood red orbs, and she shut her eyes tight, grimacing.

This elicited a snort from the Uchiha as he realized what she'd thought was happening. "You really think I'd waste the Mangekyou sharingan on _you_? Foolish girl. I just needed you out of the way." He raised an eyebrow in mild amusement as he took in her dark glare.

"Such hatred in your eyes. I can't help wondering what I've done to earn _your_ wrath when we've never met..." Her eyes narrowed, and he smirked. "There's one thing I want to know before I put you to sleep. Why are you so touchy about the Nine-Tails jinchuuriki?"

"Why?" Nozomi's brows knit into a deep set scowl. "Because he's my _friend_!" Her eyes narrowed into slits as she added, "I doubt _you_ can understand anything like that, though, murderer!"

There was a long pause as Itachi stared at her, a thoughtful look on his face. "...You call _me_ a murderer, but just look at the woman _you_ call sensei." He smirked, seeing the protest building on the brunette's lips, and, activating his sharingan, he forcibly showed her a variety of memories so vivid, she felt like she was living in them.

 _There was Saera, leading a man into a small tent, her hips swaying in such a manner that Nozomi wasn't sure what she was about to see. The next scene she saw was clearly after the act, and she watched with horror as her teacher stood over the same man who was sprawled out on a blood splattered mattress._

" _It's nothing personal," She remarked to the deceased man in a pitying tone. "I really did enjoy our time, but there's only one man I live for, and you're not him." Taking a step back, she raised blood stained fingers to her lips and blew the man a kiss before exiting the tent._

"Wh...what is all this?!" Nozomi sputtered, just before the scene shifted to another memory.

 _This time Saera was surrounded by three burly looking ninja with no label on their forehead protectors. Thinking they'd gotten the drop on a defenseless young woman, the men had decided to take advantage of her, but it soon became clear who was_ _ **really**_ _helpless in the matter. One short lived fight later, Saera hovered over their bodies, bearing a look of pure insanity as she gazed in morbid fascination at her blood soaked hands. "That's what you get for underestimating someone brought up by Orochimaru-sama." She'd said, smirking before turning on her heel and walking off casually, like she hadn't just committed manslaughter._

"Please! Make it stop!" Nozomi cried, unable to handle any more. It was just too much, seeing all these memories related to Saera! She may not know much about her, but never had it crossed her mind that the blonde could be so cold!

Seeing that he'd gotten his point across, Itachi dropped her onto the ground where she hunched over, panting hard as she tried to forget what she'd just witnessed. The horrifying sound of her sensei's insane laughter made chills race up her spine, and seeing the kind of carnage the woman had participated in on just a whim made her want to vomit.

The whole time, Itachi stood over her, completely indifferent to the whole thing. "As you can see, that woman's hands were caked in blood even before I betrayed the Leaf. Yet you blindly trust her, when in fact she's more of a danger to you than I am."

As Nozomi finally got a control over her stomach, she got to her feet again, fixing the man with a scowl. "Oh yeah? I'll bet those so called "memories" are just images you made up! I mean, what the hell could someone like _you_ even know about her?!"

The memories he'd shown were as real as his sharingan, but he wouldn't waste time correcting her. Instead, he fixed the kunoichi with a malicious smirk, drawing in closer. "I know more about her than you _ever_ will."

Before Nozomi could come up with any kind of counter, the sharingan was spinning into action again, and she was being dragged into yet another memory.

 _Saera, clearly in her mid teens, towered over the body of her latest victim- a simple peddler who'd been unfortunate enough to stop her and ask for directions when she was in the middle of something. Clearly, her appearance hadn't been enough warning to stay away, even with the black and red cloak she wore, which, like most of her, was now soaked in the poor fool's blood. She straightened up as a twig snapped nearby, only relaxing when a man wearing the same cloak as her appeared. Noticing the active sharingan in his eyes, her lips relaxed into a lazy smirk. "Itachi Uchiha."_

 _The Uchiha regarded her emotionlessly as he glanced toward her unfortunate victim. "What did he do to warrant such violence?"_

 _A sadistic grin spread across Saera's face as she sauntered closer to the man she'd been instructed to get closer to. Stopping when they were face to face, she responded, "Why, he slowed me down in the middle of a mission of course."_

" _And what_ _ **was**_ _your mission?" Itachi questioned, causing her to smirk again as she lowered her voice to a whisper._

" _You'll see soon enough." Before he could respond, she closed the distance between them, pressing her lips to his cheek briefly before she pulled back and went on her merry way, as if nothing had just happened._

As the scene came to an end, Nozomi retreated backward, shaking at what she'd just seen. Saera had killed an innocent person in cold blood. Saera had been wearing an Akatsuki robe. Saera... _Her sensei_ had _kissed_ one of Konoha's most notorious criminals! What on earth was that all about?!

' _It's...an illusion, that's it! Just a trick to distract me from getting out of here and helping Naruto-kun.'_ That had to be it. She'd ask her sensei about it when she got home, but she highly doubted any of what she'd seen was true. Student and teacher would just share a hearty laugh at what was a simple trick of Itachi's genjutsu…She hoped.

Pointedly ignoring the voice in her head reminding her that her sensei had never really told her anything about her past, Nozomi took a deep breath to calm her racing heart and fixed the man with a glare again. "I'm done being distracted by your cheap tricks. I _will_ break this genjutsu and save Naruto-kun, just watch me!"

Itachi watched, mildly amused as the girl closed her eyes again to disrupt the flow of her chakra and shook his head. "Fight all you want, but your efforts are meaningless. The Akatsuki _will_ have the Nine-Tails."

Nozomi's eyes shot open, her focus broken, and she lunged forward with a balled up fist that collided with the Uchiha's jaw, making him explode once more into a flock of crows. "His name's Naruto Uzumaki!" An irritated growl left her lips when the birds reverted back into Itachi just a few feet away.

"I see. He's very dear to you, it seems. In that case, I'll have to ensure that his capture takes place before your very eyes. That ought to show you how helpless you are...Nozomi. The failed jinchuuriki of the Kubota clan." His red eyes narrowed as he sneered at the now stunned brunette.

Nozomi's retort had died on her tongue at his last words as she instead found herself gawking at the man. "How….how does somebody like _you_ know about that?!" She finally managed to shout.

"This discussion is over." Came Itachi's solem response. "It's time I put you to sleep."

"No, it's not! How the hell do you know about my clan?!" The brunette ground out through clenched teeth, sounding frustrated. "Answer me, damn it!"

In a ghost like manner, Itachi rose into the crimson sky, his appearance becoming more distorted by the second. Then, his body dispersed into hundreds of small crows, blocking the sky and throwing the world into inky blackness.

Not knowing what else to do, Nozomi took off running. Unfortunately, in this genjutsu her enhanced vision was useless, and she was practically running blind in the darkness. It wasn't until she heard the flapping of multitudes of wings that she realized she was surrounded. Bracing herself, she gazed up just in time to lock eyes with the biggest crow she'd ever seen, just as it swooped down upon her…

…..

Sakura stood with Granny Chiyo and Naruto, whom they'd just freed from Itachi's genjutsu, watching as Kakashi expertly dodged Itachi's Phoenix Flower Jutsu.

"Wow, what a dodge!" She exclaimed as the jonin leapt into the air to avoid the last of the flames.

However, mid air, Kakashi glanced over his shoulder at them warningly. "He's not done yet!"

Sure enough, as he spoke, Itachi was preparing for another attack. With a deep breath, he unleashed a massive Fireball Jutsu that the trio just managed to dodge. Under cover of the resulting smoke from the impact, Sakura and Granny Chiyo fled into the forest. Using the trees for cover, Sakura shielded her eyes as Naruto's Rasengan collided with the ground, causing another dust storm to ensue.

"What happened? Did he do it?" Asked Chiyo from her spot, prompting Sakura to peek out of the forest and call out for the boy in concern.

When the smoke cloud cleared, Itachi could be seen standing next to a large, rounded crater. "Well now, he's learned an interesting jutsu, hasn't he?" The Uchiha remarked. "However.."

Sakura's attention was drawn away from the battlefield as she heard a faint moan, and she glanced at Chiyo. "Did you say something?"

"Not at all." The elder responded, looking at her strangely. "Are you feeling alright?"

"No! I mean, yes I'm fine." Sakura remedied quickly before turning around. "It's just I could've sworn I heard something, and if it wasn't you that means it was somebody else." Frowning, she stood up, careful not to let her cover be blown as she began to survey the area.

"Mnnn.."

"There!" Green eyes lit up at the sound and she followed it to the source, gasping when she came across Nozomi, out cold on the grassy floor. "Nozomi-chan?" Dropping to her knees, she did a quick assessment of the girl and frowned. _'She's under a genjutsu.'_

Placing one hand on the unconscious girl, Sakura formed the tiger hand seal. "Release!"

Nozomi's eyes opened, and she sat up, glancing around disorientedly. "What...what happened? Where'd Itachi go?"

"Itachi was never here, Nozomi-chan. It was his genjutsu." Sakura said, bringing the brunette up to speed.

"Oh, that's right." Nozomi gave a relieved sigh and shot her friend a grateful smile. "Thank you for helping me out."

Sakura was about to respond when a thick mist suddenly appeared, covering the area and she frowned, looking around as her mind turned back to Naruto. Had he made it?

"Um...Sakura-chan?" The pinkette turned back to see Nozomi looking around in concern, ears flattening nervously. "Is..this Itachi's doing..?"

"Don't worry, my dear. This jutsu is Kakashi's." Came the voice of Chiyo, causing the brunette to jump as she hadn't realized the old woman was with them. Quickly recovering, she turned toward the elderly woman, surprised as her words sunk in.

"Wait, are you saying-"

"The mist is getting thick so we all need to focus now." Chiyo interrupted Sakura calmly. "You must keep your attention firmly fixed on Kakashi's presence."

"Right, I will." Sakura responded, with Nozomi echoing her agreement.

Staring straight ahead, the two younger kunoichi concentrated on the clearing where they could just make out the dark cloak of Itachi within the mist.

"Kakashi, can we please stop this childish game of hide and seek?" The Akatsuki member called out. If Nozomi had been able to see better, she would've guessed that the man was getting annoyed.

"Sure, why not?" Kakashi stepped out from behind a tree, making himself visible, and the three kunoichi watched as the battle re-ensued.

Kakashi launched three kunai that Itachi expertly dodged. Then, before the Leaf jonin could retaliate, he followed up with a Fireball Jutsu, consuming the man in flames. When the fire subsided, all that was left was a straight track the flames had burnt into the earth.

From her hiding place with Sakura and Granny Chiyo, Nozomi was relieved to spot the hole in the seared ground. _'Thank goodness. That was quick thinking.'_

Suddenly, Kakashi burst out of the earth just in front of Itachi, attempting an uppercut, only to be stopped as Itachi grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. The silver haired man ducked down, just narrowly missing a punch thrown his way before Itachi grabbed the back of his head, forcing him to look into his eyes.

"Don't tell me Kakashi-sensei is caught in his genjutsu!" Sakura exclaimed, and a wide eyed Nozomi brought her hands to her mouth, stifling a gasp at the thought.

Suddenly, another Kakashi popped up from the hole in the ground, calling out. "Attack him and my shadow clone! Now, Naruto!"

 _'Shadow clone?'_ Nozomi's brows furrowed with confusion for a moment before she realized what had happened, and she grinned. ' _Leave it to Kakashi-sensei..he's always got something up his sleeve!'_

"I'm on it!" Naruto and a shadow clone barreled out of the forest, running towards Itachi and the clone Kakashi with a medium sized, rounded blue sphere of chakra in between their hands. "Giant Rasengan!"

The attack hit dead on, resulting in a massive blast that tore the earth all around, and the three hidden ninja were left staring in awe at the display of power.

"A-amazing!" Sakura gasped.

"My word, what power!" Chiyo added, looking stunned.

Nozomi just stared at the battlefield, her jaw dropping open of its own accord. _'Naruto-kun, you weren't kidding...you've really become strong!'_

When the blast finally cleared, Team Kakashi regrouped to assess the damage only to find that the body left over was not Itachi's but some other man! Kakashi was the only one who didn't seem surprised.

"When we were fighting I could feel something was off." He admitted quietly.

"I don't get it, what the heck just happened?" Naruto demanded.

"Seriously, what's going on here?" Nozomi added, staring in bewilderment at the body. Just a little while ago, he had looked exactly like Itachi, but now...Now he was a completely different human being!

Sakura commented that it had to be some kind of jutsu, but Granny Chiyo was still visibly shaken as she took a good look at the body. "But that man!"

Kakashi glanced over at the woman quickly. "Lady Chiyo, do you know who this is?"

"His name is Yura, and he's a jonin from our own village." The elderly ninja responded somberly, causing everyone to freeze.

"A Sand shinobi?" Naruto echoed, startled.

"What does this mean?" Kakashi murmured, and Chiyo paused.

"I wish I knew." She gazed down at the mangled body with pity. "Poor fool. He went missing after Gaara was abducted while the village was still in disarray."

Nozomi remained silent, her mind working overtime as she tried to understand what had just happened. If this man was a member of the Hidden Sand, why had he attacked them? Furthermore, why had he looked like Itachi?! It just didn't add up, and she was beginning to get a headache.

"Is it possible he was a spy for the Akatsuki?"

Sakura's idea was quickly shot down, however, as Chiyo insisted that the man had served on the council for four years. That only made the whole situation more troubling.

"None of this makes any sense!" Nozomi groaned, finally unable to keep quiet any longer. "How did this guy manage to copy all of Itachi's jutsu?! He caught me in a genjutsu, and Naruto-kun too!" She paused, turning to the blond in question. "Right?"

When Naruto nodded, she sighed. "I just don't understand this at all..."

"The Fireball Jutsu," Kakashi remarked quietly, frowning behind his mask. "It was created by the Uchiha clan. It's their specialty. That attack was the real thing."

Noticing the far away look on Naruto's face, Nozomi frowned, gazing down at the man who they now knew was called Yura. _'If this is just a taste of the Akatsuki's abilities...I wonder if I'll even be able to do a thing if they went after Naruto-kun now.'_ Frowning at the pessimistic turn of her thoughts, the brunette did a double take, forcing such ideas away. _'I already said I'd protect him, and that's what I'm gonna do. Even if it kills me. This is no time to get scared and back out!'_

"They were clearly trying to stall for time." Chiyo commented as she wrote out a message to send back to the Sand village. "For them to use a jutsu like this to stall us can mean only one thing. It's worse than I thought. The extraction of the tailed beast has already begun."

"Huh?!" Naruto, Sakura, and Nozomi chorused, looking equally shocked, and Kakashi nodded grimly, agreeing that they were out of time. "We need to get to Gaara right away."

"So wait, hold on. What do you mean by extraction?" Sakura asked, prompting the sand ninja to explain that if the Akatsuki could draw out the One-Tail they'd be able to create a new jinchuuriki. As Sakura questioned her further, Chiyo went into further detail about those who controlled the tailed beasts, and how they were called jinchuuriki. Finally, Sakura asked the question that nobody seemed to want to ask.

"How are the tailed beasts extracted?"

"A couple of things are needed. A sealing jutsu strong enough to counterbalance the tailed beast's power, and a lot of time." The elderly woman explained. "But were things to reach that point, then the jinchuuriki.." She broke off and Sakura's eyes widened slightly.

"You don't mean..." She began, not daring to finish the sentence, and Chiyo fixed her with a grave look. "Once the tailed beast is extracted, they die."

Seeing the horror on her friend's face was too much for Nozomi, who knew all too well the process being discussed, and she turned away, unable to look at anyone as her own thoughts ran rampant.

 _'So...the Akatsuki's plan for the Kazekage is exactly what the Kubota elders wanted to do to me...how can people be so cruel? Don't they think we have feelings, too?'_ Her eyes glazed over as she thought back to that disastrous night, and a soft sigh escaped her lips.

"We'd better hurry."

Breaking out of her depressing thoughts, Nozomi realized that Naruto was on the move again, and she, along with the rest of team Kakashi hurried after the boy. Despite having heard Kakashi's concerns that it was too late, she chose to have faith in her whiskered friend, who was still exhibiting determination to save the Kazekage. If he hadn't given up, then neither would she, no matter the odds. Jinchuuriki, no matter what their differences may be needed to stick together, right?

 _'No matter what pettiness we may go through together.'_ She thought, recalling the day before when she'd decided to ignore him, and how they still had yet to make up. Right now, it was time to be the bigger person. They could settle their dispute after the mission.

 _'Please, hang in there Gaara-san.'_ She thought, hurrying after Naruto to avoid being left behind. _'We're on our way.'_

...

Nozomi cast a worried look toward Naruto as they ran. He was obviously worn out, but as expected, the boy had kept his exhaustion to himself and pressed on harder, panting softly under his breath.

She had just opened her mouth to say something when Kakashi stopped in a small clearing and announced that they were stopping. A soft sigh escaped the brunette's lips, and her gaze darted toward Naruto. At least now he'd be able to rest up a little.

Unfortunately, Naruto didn't share in her relief. Upon learning that they'd be taking a short break, he ran up to Kakashi, frowning at him. "What do you mean? Come on, you were the one who's saying we couldn't waste anymore time! If we just lay around here doing nothing Gaara's gonna be-!"

"Naruto!" The jonin interrupted and fixed him with a firm look. "Our pace has slowed since we faced off against that bogus Itachi."

"He's absolutely right, Naruto." Sakura agreed, frowning.

"If we take the time to rest up now, we'll ultimately reach our destination faster." Kakashi continued, watching the Uzumaki's face. "Keep in mind, tomorrow we may end up facing the guys who kidnapped Gaara...We'll need our full strength."

Naruto had no choice but to concede defeat, as the squad leader's argument was a sound one. "Yeah, alright. I understand." He said reluctantly before heading into the forest to gather some firewood at his sensei's request.

Nozomi watched until he disappeared before leaning against a tree trunk, letting herself slide onto the ground with a soft groan.

 _'My legs are killing me.'_ She frowned, thinking back to her training back home. Saera's lessons were intense, but not even they had prepared her for such a mission as this. At the thought of her teacher, the memories she'd been forced to see earlier played before in her mind, and Nozomi's eyes glossed over. It couldn't be true...

"Hey, are you alright?"

Startled, the brunette glanced up sharply, relaxing when she realized it was Sakura who had spoken. The pinkette had taken a seat beside her, pulling her knees to her chest and watching her with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Nozomi assured her. Truthfully, she wasn't. The doubt Itachi had planted in her heart was spreading like a weed, but she didn't feel like talking about it. Not when she could barely comprehend the images she'd seen. "If anything, I'm just tired."

Glancing around quickly to ensure Naruto hadn't returned yet, the brunette leaned in, whispering in Sakura's ear. "You see, I've never been allowed to go on missions outside of the village cause the elders want me at their beck and call. This is the most I've traveled since before I came to live in Konoha."

Pink brows arched at Nozomi's admittance before furrowing in annoyance. That certainly sounded like the elders to her. "Well, if you need anything, let me know, okay? We're a team, so it's important we look out for each other."

"Yeah, I understand...Thanks." Nozomi gave the pinkette a small smile, and she grinned back, leaning forward to rest her head on her knees and closing her eyes.

The silence was broken, then as Naruto returned with a load of sticks and branches, and he dropped them in the center of the small clearing before turning away. Nozomi watched sadly as the boy walked past them, settling down against a tree a little ways away. He looked so upset...and alone.

Sakura, having noticed where her friend's eyes went, sat up and clapped a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You should go talk to him."

Nozomi's gaze shot to the pinkette at the suggestion. "Me..?" She made an exaggerated show of pointing at herself before wincing, ears pressing back uncomfortably. "I...don't know." She protested, adding hastily, "He looks busy...it's definitely not a good time to bother him."

Sakura gave an exasperated sigh. " _C'mon_ , Nozomi-chan! I know you're hurt, but don't you think this has gone on for long enough? Naruto may be dense at times but even _he_ can tell that he's upset you." Her green eyes rolled upward and she shook her head slightly. "I know you don't want to talk to him, but that's the only way this whole thing is going to get fixed."

Nozomi's frown deepened at the pinkette's words. She'd be the first to admit that she had indeed overreacted, but still...this wasn't really the time or place for them to hash things out. "It'd be better if we wait until we've rescued the Kazekage. He'll be too distracted to hear much of what I say right now.."

There was a pause as a knowing look appeared on the pink kunoichi's face. "Nozomi-chan, Naruto _is_ worried about Gaara, but he's watching _you_ pretty closely, too. In fact, while we were dealing with that fake Itachi, he was the one who noticed you'd disappeared, and he got really upset."

Nozomi's brows arched in surprise. "He was? He _did_?"

A soft smile appeared on Sakura's face as she nodded. "I guess you didn't see the way he looked at you after the fight. He was relieved to see you were okay." Watching her friend's brows furrow, she grinned.

"I know you probably think I'm just saying all of this to make you feel better, but I'm not. That's why I think you should talk to him yourself. Then you'll get answers that you know are real." She broke off, casting a slightly worried look at the blond. "Besides, he really needs someone to be there for him right now."

Nozomi fell silent, willing away the faint blush that had colored her cheeks as she mulled over her friend's words. Of all that she had said, one thing was for sure: Naruto did look like he needed someone to talk to. But...why her? Finally finding her voice, she asked Sakura just that. "Only...you've known him longer than me. Wouldn't that make you a better choice?" She added with a slight shrug.

"Well, besides the fact that you two need to make up..." Sakura's brow knit as she turned to the girl, a thoughtful look on her face. "You're a jinchuuriki just like he is-"

"-Yeah, right. A _failed_ jinchuuriki." Nozomi realized belatedly that she'd voiced her thoughts as suspicious green eyes narrowed at her, and she gave a toothy grin, laughing sheepishly. "Eh, ignore me! You were saying?"

Sakura quirked a brow at the brunette, not sure she _should_ ignore the slip up, but decided to this once. Naruto needed her friend more than she needed answers at this moment. "As I was saying, you're a jinchuuriki. If anybody, he'd be most likely to open up to you right now."

Well, darn. There wasn't much she could really argue in the face of that logic. Exhaling heavily, Nozomi got up from her spot on the ground, brushing dirt off her clothes. "If you really think it'll help that much, okay. But I make no promises-"

"Oh, just _go_ already!" Sakura interrupted, getting up and shoving the girl before she could say another word. Stumbling forward, Nozomi made a face at the girl before straightening up and cautiously approaching the brooding Naruto. When he didn't look up she looked back unsurely at Sakura, who gestured for her to sit, and the brunette lowered herself onto the ground. "Um...Naruto-kun..?"

Brows furrowed, Naruto turned at her voice and seeing the brunette, surprise flickered across his features. "Oh...hey."

Nozomi fought the urge to facepalm as he returned to staring blankly into space. Sakura had to be wrong. He clearly wasn't in the mood to talk judging from that reaction. ' _But chances are Sakura-chan will give me a hard time if I leave without at least trying…'_ With a sigh the brunette coughed softly, praying her blond haired friend was listening.

"So, hey...uhh...About yesterday...I shouldn't have run off and ignored you. I was just hurt when you implied I wasn't good enough for the mission. Still, I should've made sure that was what you really meant before cutting you out and not even giving you a chance and...I just...sorry..."

Her awkward apology hung between them, the silence between them so heavy she felt as if it was choking her. She was debating getting up and leaving things like that when Naruto suddenly shifted to face her.

"So _that's_ what upset you?" His expression went from stunned to apologetic in a matter of seconds as he groaned under his breath. "All night I was trying to figure out what made you so mad, and now that I know...I hope you know that I didn't mean anything like what you thought. I was just-"

The blond's rambling was brought to a halt as Nozomi raised the palm of her hand, smiling gently and shaking her head in amusement. "It's okay, Naruto-kun. I know you're worried about a friend, and just want this rescue to go smoothly. It's understandable that you were hoping to have a teammate you worked with before, and to get me instead was...well..." She trailed off, a faraway look in her eyes as she recalled the hurtful things Itachi had said, and her smile faded.

"I'm not a tailed beast host..Heck, I'm not even worthy of being called a jinchuuriki. Yeah, sure, I am a demon's container, but...any power I manage to get from her usually backfires badly, so I really can't rely on that at all."

She broke off, startled out of her reverie as she looked up to find intense blue eyes boring into her. "...In spite of that, the Hokage put me on your team, so I will help in any way I can if you'll let me."

Naruto's face softened as he listened, nodding. "Well, if Granny Tsunade decided to send you, she must know something about you that we don't." He paused, raising an eyebrow at the suddenly sheepish, nervous look on his friend's face before looking away.

"It's just...you heard what that old lady said about the Akatsuki extracting the tailed beast!" He sighed heavily, clenching his fist in frustration. "Gaara is counting on us...and we're just sitting here! Yeah, I get that I got tired, but so what? I'd rather be tired and keep on moving, but it's not up to me..."

Nozomi's frown deepened as she heard the frustration in his voice. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun." She interjected, slipping her hand into his and giving a comforting squeeze. "I give you my word as a ninja...and as your friend. We _will_ rescue Gaara-san, no matter what it takes."

Her actions had distracted Naruto enough for him to notice she was holding his hand, and he shot her a curious look that she chose not to address as she continued. "Of course, after seeing what you are capable of, I'm not sure how much help I'll really be; my jutsu are mediocre compared to what you showed us earlier today...But still, I'll give it my all because...Gaara-san is just like you, which makes him kinda like me, too, and I can't stand the thought of one of us being treated so horribly!"

' _Nozomi-chan, for someone who doesn't think they're worthy of being called a jinchuuriki, you sure do find a way to understand how I feel.'_ For the first time since he'd first acknowledged her, a warm, genuine smile graced Naruto's features, and he shifted his hand in her grip so that their fingers were laced together.

"It doesn't matter how strong or weak you are. It's what's in here that counts." He placed his free hand over her heart, unaware of the tingle that sent through her spine as he grinned. "You see, if you believe in yourself, none of that other stuff matters. Whatever you're lacking you'll make up for with willpower and guts!"

He sat back then, holding steadfast to her hand as if it were a lifeline. "Let's do our best not to keep Gaara waiting for us too long!"

"You got it." Nozomi responded, smiling softly as her friend returned to being the person she knew and loved so much.

' _...As a friend.'_ She added quickly in her mind before the shadow creature inside her could make a snide remark.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she noticed Naruto moving closer, and without warning she found herself pressed into his side with her head on his shoulder. "Eh? Um…"

The blond's head turned towards her and she froze, feeling his nose brush against hers. Had he noticed her trying to keep a safe distance between them? She realized that was exactly the case as he gave her a knowing smirk and tightened his grip on her hand.

"We don't have to get going yet, so just...stay with me?" His eyes were pleading with her, and despite knowing that by agreeing she was _not_ discouraging the boy's feelings, she found herself nodding.

With a satisfied smile, Naruto turned to gaze up at the sky, which was growing darker, and Nozomi leaned fully into his shoulder, closing her eyes contently. Given her tendency to shy away from such closeness, Naruto figured she'd done it subconsciously and smiled softly. Deciding to enjoy the moment while it lasted, he closed his eyes and leaned his head against hers, feeling more like himself than he had in days.

As expected, Nozomi realized what she was doing moments later and sat upright, blushing as she unwound her hand from his, grinning nervously. "We should get some sleep while we can." She uttered, glancing behind them.

Naruto followed her gaze, noticing that Sakura had already laid down near the campfire and nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right." He replied, getting up and following after the girl, who was already on her feet and approaching the pinkette.

Watching her lay beside the kunoichi, Naruto smiled softly, and once she'd closed her eyes, he too lay down beside her, closing his eyes to get some much needed rest. It wouldn't be long now before they caught up to the Akatsuki, and then...He covered his mouth to stifle a yawn as his thoughts wandered.

' _We'll get you back, Gaara. Just hold on.'_

* * *

 _Okay, that's it for now. Hope everyone enjoyed it. As always, reviews are loved. ^^_

 _See you all next time~!_

 _~NinjaKitty91_


	4. Kazekage Rescue Arc Pt 3

_Hey everybody! Sorry for the delay in uploading this chapter...real life has gotten real busy in the last month, and only gonna get crazier. See the end of the chapter for an important author's note. Thanks as always to those who's decided to add this story to their alerts or favorites, and the reviewers! You guys rock! Now on with the story~ ;)  
_

* * *

"That's enough rest. We should get moving." Kakashi jumped down from his post in the tree and turned to Chiyo, who was already awake. The old woman nodded her agreement, and he turned his attention to the rest of his team, who were sprawled out on the grass, fast asleep. "Okay, you three. Wake up. We're heading out."

"R...right." Came Sakura's groggy reply as she sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

Next to her, Nozomi stifled a yawn as she sat up and stretched her arms. Her eyes slid over to Naruto's sleeping form, and she leaned over, nudging the boy's shoulder. "Wake up, Naruto-kun. It's time to go."

"Okay, in a minute. Just give me a minute more." He murmured sleepily, rolling onto his side, and the brunette shook her head with a sigh.

"There's no time for that…" Glancing up, she caught Kakashi's stare and flinched. Even with a mask on she could tell he was a little annoyed, from the way he stood, hands on his hips.

"I thought you were gonna save Gaara."

The jonin's statement proved to be just the wake up call needed, as Naruto shot straight up, a determined look in his eyes. "You _bet_ I'm gonna save him!"

"That's more like it." Nozomi grinned, offering her hand to help him to his feet, and once they'd packed up their campsite, they set off for the Akatsuki's hideout.

The atmosphere surrounding the group as they traveled was heavy; the tension only thickened when Kakashi observed that the Akatsuki believed they'd delayed them long enough, which was why they weren't encountering any further interference.

"But that means.." Sakura trailed off grimly, and Nozomi winced, noticing the way their blond friend's shoulders tensed up in response. Then, without warning, he surged ahead, breaking formation again, eyes burning red with anger. "Hang on, Gaara...we're coming!"

"Naruto, not so fast! Wait up!" Sakura called out in protest. Seeing that her words had landed on deaf ears, the pinkette lowered her voice. "Oh, brother."

Nozomi's brow furrowed as her friend got further and further ahead. The intense aura she'd felt just before Naruto raced ahead made her a little uneasy, making her rethink her idea to catch up with the blond. Besides, what would they accomplish by breaking formation twice? This was her first mission outside the village, and she didn't want the report to describe her being unruly or disobedient. Even if she was supposed to look out for him, she figured she could do so just fine back here, so long as he didn't get any further away. Even if she _could_ catch him, there was nothing she could say to comfort him, she reasoned with herself. The best thing she _could_ do for him right now was to focus on getting to the Akatsuki's location as quickly as possible.

Her fist clenched at her side as she continued to run, keeping pace with the rest of Team Kakashi. _'Don't worry, Naruto-kun. We'll definitely save Gaara-san...no matter what it takes!'_

…..

It was daylight when they reached their destination: a large, rocky structure surrounded by water; at the center, a huge, round boulder blocked the entrance, and a torii gate stood just above it.

"Late as usual, Kakashi." Came a booming, masculine voice.

"Well, you see, we ran into a little trouble along the way." Said silver haired jonin replied, a sheepish grin hiding beneath his mask.

"Wait a minute." Chiyo suddenly said, a miffed expression appearing on her face, "by 'a little trouble' you don't mean me, do you Kakashi?"

Tuning them out, Nozomi glanced around. It looked like the rest of Team Gai was busy examining the entrance to the Akatsuki hide away, so she stuck close to Naruto, hoping to go unnoticed. It wasn't that she disliked her fellow Leaf ninja; it just so happened that she found Lee a little intimidating. Not only did he look like a carbon copy of Gai, but he was just as eccentric about fitness and training as the man!

Nozomi had learned the hard way not to interrupt them after an accidental run in resulted in her being dragged into an impromptu handstand race around the village with the spandex wearing duo. Her wrists had hurt for days after that, and she'd had to deal with an extremely irate Saera when she'd failed to grasp her kunai properly, let alone put up a decent fight in training.

As if luck was against her (which, she was beginning to believe might be the case), Lee happened to glance over and his eyes lit up. "Naruto! Sakura! Nozomi!" He greeted, and the brunette retreated behind her spiky haired friend slightly, sweat dropping.

Naruto shot Neji an expectant look. "Well?" His impatience was obvious from the distortion of his facial features; he already bore red eyes and ever pronounced whisker marks- telltale signs he would go into jinchuuriki mode.

"Looks like we were just behind you guys," Sakura began as they approached their fellow Leaf ninja. When asked about Chiyo, she introduced her, and the elderly woman flashed the teenagers a peace sign, saying that she was very pleased to meet them all.

"Well then, let's do this, Kakashi." Gai spoke then, and said jonin nodded slightly.

"Right."

Standing between Naruto and Chiyo, Nozomi followed the group's gaze to the massive stone in front of them, her brows knitting thoughtfully. She glanced back at her friends and her stare stopped on Neji, who had activated his byakugan. "I just can't make out what's going on in there. I see several people."

"Neji...what about Gaara?" Naruto butted in impatiently. "What's happening? Is he one of the people you see?!"

Not waiting for an answer, he grabbed the Hyuuga's arm and began to shake him. "Neji, what's going on? What's _in_ there?"

Finally, the dark-haired man deactivated his ocular jutsu. "Let go of me." He frowned at the Uzumaki.

Shaking her head, Nozomi grabbed the blond's elbow, making him stumble back and almost getting knocked over in the process. "Really, Naruto-kun. Give the guy some space." She admonished softly.

It was difficult to keep a serious expression, however, as he pouted in her direction, folding his arms across his chest, and she bit her lip, hiding a small grin. "Just be patient." She murmured before shifting her focus to Sakura, who was asking Neji what he'd seen.

The pale eyed brunette seemed to hesitate for a moment before he answered, his face taking on an even more serious expression than he normally wore. "It's hard to describe with words."

' _Hmm...I guess we'll need to find out for ourselves, then.'_ Nozomi thought, feeling Naruto squirm against her. Suddenly realizing that she was still holding onto his arm, she let go, her arm dropping to her side quickly.

"What it is, we will have to go see for ourselves." Lee stated, echoing her thoughts.

"That makes things easy, doesn't it?" Gai back flipped several feet away from the group, then, without warning he charged straight ahead.

"Coming through!" He reached the boulder and delivered a power packed punch, but was repelled by an unseen force and withdrew his assault. "Quite a barrier."

As he returned to the group in waiting, Lee asked what the plan was and the bushy browed jonin smirked. "Well, Lee, it's pretty obvious we need to get rid of that barrier."

"Before we can even think about breaking through, we should know what kind of barrier it is." Sakura interjected.

"It could be a five seal barrier." Kakashi suggested, causing Naruto to glance at him.

"Five seal barrier?" The spiky haired boy echoed, looking confused.

"It's a strong layer of protection, in which five tags with the word "forbidden" written on them are fastened around the area that's being guarded." The silver haired jonin elaborated. "One forbidden tag is in front of us, and four more must be in other locations."

When Gai asked if they could simply pull them off, the sharingan wielder shook his head. "It's not that easy. The tags are in five different places, but they have to be taken down at the exact same moment."

"So we'd have to remove them simultaneously?" Sakura inquired.

"Right, the barrier won't budge unless all five tags are pulled off simultaneously." Kakashi confirmed, adding that it would be no simple task, since they knew only the location of the one tag so far.

As Gai commented that there were four more out there, Nozomi's eyes darted from side to side, trying to spot anything else that might look like a tag, but to no avail.

' _What am I thinking? If they were all placed close together it wouldn't be a very good barrier, would it?'_ The brunette shook her head at her naivety and turned back to the discussion just in time to see Neji activate his byakugan once again.

"One is on the boulder about five hundred meters northeast of us," The Hyuuga stated as his pale irises dashed back and forth, scanning the surroundings at a rapid pace. "The second one is on a tree trunk beside a riverbank 350 meters south, southeast. The third you'll find 650 meters north west on a cliff. And the last one is in the woods less than 800 meters to the south west. That's four."

A drop of sweat slid down Nozomi's head, her ears lowering as she listened. The tags were a fairly good distance apart, as she should've expected from the start. How were they supposed to remove the tags all at once? Would they even be able to communicate with each other over that kind of distance?

"Each one of them is pretty far apart," Sakura stated, unknowingly echoing the brunette's own thoughts, "How will we signal each other?"

"I think I can handle that." Gai announced, reaching into his bag and producing a strange, choker like device with a mic attached. "We should just be in range for these. They're wireless radios."

"Whoa, that's amazing!" Naruto breathed in awe, and a small grin found its way onto Nozomi's face as she had to agree. She couldn't help wondering what else Gai had in his backpack. That man seemed to be prepared for any kind of situation.

"Good thinking." Kakashi remarked, and Chiyo echoed his approval, unknowingly stroking Gai's ego even further.

The green clad jonin flashed a dazzling grin, combined with his trademark nice guy thumbs up. "Okay, so we'll stay in constant communication and follow Neji's directions to the tags." Strapping on his own mic, he smirked. "Team Gai is the faster team, so we'll be the ones to handle this mission."

He gave another thumbs up that Naruto reciprocated, reminding him that they were all counting on him, as Kakashi nodded.

"Go get em." Nozomi added, giving her own weak grin and thumbs up when Team 3's jonin glanced in her direction. A soft sigh of relief left her lips as the man turned his attention to his squad, and she listened as he assigned a specific tag location to each member.

"I'll take care of the one on the north west cliff," He finished, adding that it was in the trickiest location and would be the hardest to eliminate.

"TESTING, TESTING. DO YOU READ ME?"

Nozomi stumbled back, nearly falling over as her sensitive ears were assaulted by Lee's high pitched voice. _'Why's he so loud?!'_

"Lee! Your microphone's up too loud!" Tenten groaned, causing the young ninja to bow at the waist.

"A THOUSAND APOLOGIES!"

"Lee! The mic!" Gai shouted, practically sobbing at the ear splitting noise.

Unable to take the agony, Nozomi clutched her ears to her skull, crying out weakly as her legs threatened to give out beneath her.

"Nozomi-chan?"

Golden orbs slowly opened to gaze up, and a startled gasp escaped the brunette as she realized that she _had_ fallen, but Naruto caught her; his arms were the only thing keeping her from sinking down to her hands and knees.

At the same time, Lee glanced up and, noting the various pained looks on his teammates' faces, twisted the volume knob on his mic. "Sorry, guys."

Nozomi's hands released her ears to hang limply at her sides, and she slumped forward with a soft sigh of relief. It was then that she remembered Naruto's grip on her, and she turned around, flashing a sheepish smile in response to his bewildered look.

"Sorry about that. The microphone was really, really loud." She tugged one of her ears lightly with a nonchalant shrug. "Sensitive ears, you know?" Sweat dropping, she willed her knees to stop trembling and gave a gentle tug to free herself from the boy's hold. "Ah-anyways, thanks for breaking my fall."

Naruto regarded her with a curious nod as he let go. "Anytime. You sure you're okay now?"

Reassuring him that she'd be fine now that the mic was turned down, the brunette moved to stand between him and Sakura, watching as Gai tried to get his team to join in for a hand stack. After a few seconds, Lee placed his hand on top of the jonin's hand, and with another grunt, a resigned Tenten did so as well.

With a chuckle, Gai turned his gaze to his last member, and a stare down ensued between he and the Hyuuga, who was clearly not interested. "Hmmm? Hmmmmm?!" Several grunts from the jonin eventually broke him down, however, and Neji finally placed his hand into the formed pile.

Gai unleashed a loud, heart laugh as he grinned widely. "Onward with the power of youth!" He boomed. To Neji and Tenten's displeasure, Lee echoed the jonin's sentiment just as boisterously until finally they took off, each fanning out in a different direction to complete the task they'd been assigned.

"Oh, man! That was so cool!" Naruto clenched his fists excitedly as he turned toward Sakura and Chiyo. "Hey, we should do it too!"

"I'd rather die." Sakura muttered, turning her head to the side and folding her arms.

"Me too." Came Kakashi's agreement, which Chiyo echoed as well.

Nozomi crossed her arms and snorted in amusement as Naruto sputtered, appearing as if he may fall from the shock before settling back and pouting. "Hey wait, you're on Team Kakashi right now, too!" A shiver went down the brunette's spine at the blond's outburst, and she sweat dropped as he approached her, looking hopeful.

"How about it, Nozomi-chan?" He asked, extending his hand out.

Nozomi didn't need to look around to know that the rest of the team was watching, waiting for her response, and she stepped back uneasily, shaking her head. "...I don't really think-"

"Aww! C'mon! Do it for _me_ , Neko-chan?"

Hearing her old nickname said so casually in front of everyone, the brunette felt her fur stand up, and she groaned inwardly, gazing into the warm eyes of her childhood friend. _'Ugh, this guy! It's like he_ ** _knows_** _how hard it is for me to say no to him…'_

"Oh...fine." Exhaling deeply, she placed her hand on top of his, not noticing the way his face lit up at the motion before he chuckled.

"Alright! Team Kakashi, go!" He paused, noticing the less than amused looks his other teammates wore and chuckled sheepishly. "... _Some_ of Team Kakashi."

"...Neko-chan, huh?"

Nozomi retracted her hand as she heard stifled laughter and flattened her ears in embarrassment. Leave it to Sakura to find the whole thing amusing, she thought. Then again, the pinkette was also aware of the influence Naruto had over her, so why _wouldn't_ she find this ordeal funny?

Luckily, there was no time to dwell on such things, as Kakashi made his way to the boulder, standing just above the tag on it.

Following Naruto's lead, Nozomi moved to the side of the boulder, watching as Sakura positioned herself several feet away. The plan was simple; Team Gai would reach their targeted tags. Once they had confirmed everyone's location with the microphones, Team Gai and Kakashi would remove the five tags simultaneously. Then, Sakura would destroy the boulder.

" _That will be our signal to charge inside and rescue Gaara."_ Kakashi's instructions echoed through Nozomi's mind as she waited. Beside her, Naruto was rigid, eyes hard and determined, and she reached out, gently patting his shoulder.

"It's okay. We're almost there." She whispered.

Whether the blond heard her soft words of encouragement or not, she didn't know, but his eyes did dart back toward her briefly, making her think perhaps he had.

Moments later, the microphone on Kakashi's neck blared to life, and Gai's voice could be heard. "Well Kakashi, you guys all set?"

"Ready when you are." The silver haired man replied, gripping the corner of the tag he was responsible for removing. "We'll make our assault using the button hook entry." He announced.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Naruto said, and Nozomi nodded, echoing her own agreement.

"On my mark," Gai's voice began again. "I...2...3!"

Kakashi tore the tag off the rock as a chorus of ripping tags could be heard on the radio. "Now, Sakura!" He called out.

"Right!"

"Quick, Nozomi-chan!" Naruto said, grabbing said brunette's wrist and pulling her back against the wall. The two stood there, watching as Sakura charged at the boulder; her fist collided with it seconds later and it shattered into thousands of smaller rocks.

Nozomi watched the display in open mouthed awe. _'Note to self,'_ She swallowed softly as her gaze slid over to her pink haired friend, who was standing on the opposite side with Chiyo. _'_ ** _Never_** _get in a fist fight with Sakura-chan.'_

At Kakashi's signal, the five of them entered through the opening into the cave, each taking a position on either side of the entrance. Naruto was the first to drop his defensive stance, his brow furrowing in shock, and, hearing Sakura's gasp, Nozomi followed their stare; her eyes widened at the sight of two Akatsuki members seated atop a deathly pale redhead, and her ears pinned back. _'No…'_

"We're too late." Kakashi spoke grimly, confirming her fears.

"Finally. Now which one of you is the jinchuuriki?" Spoke one of the men.

' _This is it. These are real members of the Akatsuki.'_ She frowned, narrowing her eyes at the men before lowering her gaze once more to the still man on the floor. A pain churned in her gut at the sight and she lowered her head to hide tears that had sprung to her eyes.

' _If only I hadn't gotten caught in Itachi's genjutsu,'_ Regret filled her, strangling her in its grasp and making her heart ache, as she hung her head. _'Maybe we could've fought the guy off sooner and got here in time! Why am I always so helpless when people need me the most?! Naruto-kun was right all along...Tsunade-sama_ ** _should_** _have sent somebody else.'_

 **" _You know the answer to that, Kubota. It's because you ARE helpless!"_** Crooned a smooth voice in the back of her mind, adding to her psychological torture. ** _"Thinking that someone like you could_ _ever_ _make a difference. You were guaranteed for failure all this time!"_**

Nozomi's spirits were too weak to fend off the tendrils of purple chakra that slithered up her body, and she hung her head, just listening as her inner demon berated and ridiculed her. Maybe...Kumoraku was right, and she _wasn't_ good enough on her own. If she had gone to the cat for power, maybe then..

' _Maybe I would've been strong enough, and we could've rescued Gaara-san in time.'_

"You bastards!"

The brunette jumped, jerked back to reality and cast a glance toward Naruto, surprised. His eyes were a deadly crimson, and his whiskers were more pronounced than usual.

"I'll kill the both of you!" He snarled, exposing elongated fangs in the process.

Feeling her heart clench with sadness again, Nozomi opened her mouth to say something, but was silenced as she realized that he wasn't the only one who had undergone a physical change.

Apparently, while she'd been caught up in self pity, Kumoraku had consumed a portion of her being; Her vision, though obscured by her tears, was bathed in hues of red, and her own fangs, as well as her claws had grown in length.

As the group of ninjas stood in the cave entrance, the Akatsuki with a cloth over his face spoke. "The one who bursts in and starts barking. That would be him, then."

"Sasori my man, I think you're correct." The other one, a blond sporting a ponytail agreed with a smirk.

This elicited a low growl from Nozomi as she realized that they had been lured in, most likely to capture Naruto, and she tensed up, clenching her jaw. "You…! I don't know what game you're playing, but you're gonna have to go through me, you hear?!" She shouted angrily. "I'll _kill_ you before you take another life!"

The one who'd been addressed as Sasori regarded her calmly. "It appears we have more than one jinchuuriki in our midst, Deidara." He stated, narrow eyes raking over her form in a venomous stare.

The one called Deidara smirked at Nozomi, making her growl as the demonic chakra surged wildly through her body, itching to be set free. "I doubt she's any real threat, or else we'd have heard of her before, hmm."

"You think that just because you've never heard of me I'll go down easily?!" The rest of Nozomi's retort was drowned out as Naruto began to shout, unable to reign in his own fiery temper any longer.

"You bastards...where the hell do you think you're sitting?!" He demanded.

His eyes shifted to the pale redhead on the floor. "Gaara! What the hell are you doing? C'mon, why are you just lying there?! Get up! Gaara! Answer me! What are you, deaf? C'mon, knock it off already!"

"Enough, Naruto! You know full well that-" Kakashi began, but was cut off by a sneering Deidara.

"Your friend's right, and you know it, too. He's been dead for awhile now, heh." As he spoke, he reached down and slapped Gaara's face, smirking.

His callousness set Naruto's temper to a new level, and he snarled, looking even deadlier than before. "Give him back! Give Gaara back you damn- ARGGH!"

Seeing her friend about to charge in, Nozomi lunged at him, grabbing his right arm. "Naruto-kun, hold on!" She begged, trying to pull him back, but even with her own demon's power, she was no match for Naruto who, clearly not in his right mind swiped his free hand at her.

"Let me go! He asked for it, damn it!"

Started by his assault, Nozomi was forced to let go, and she stumbled back, narrowly avoiding his claws. Realizing that the blond was too angry for her words to stop him, she stood back, praying that his ascent wouldn't be the huge mistake she feared it was.

"Cool it." Kakashi was next to intervene, stepping into Naruto's path. "Charge in without thinking, and we're done for."

Nozomi nodded her silent agreement to the jonin, relieved as her fellow jinchuuriki was forced to stop. There was a brief pause then, as Kakashi glanced toward the two Akatsuki, assessing them. "It looks like the one on the left is the guy who infiltrated the Sand and took Lord Kazekage...which means this one is the puppet master who wounded Kankuro so badly."

The cavern fell silent as the two men spared them no further attention, having begun a discussion on who would deal with Naruto; ultimately it turned into a heated debate on what true art was between their styles, and Team Kakashi stared, bewildered and forgotten as insults were flung back and forth between the two men.

Finally, Naruto's fragile patience ran out, and he shouted that enough was enough, and pulled out a scroll, summoning a giant shuriken that he chucked at Sasori.

Right on cue, a long, bony tail protruded from the masked Akatsuki's robe to deflect the weapon as he carried on arguing with his partner, not even sparing the Uzumaki a glance.

"Hmm, art is one thing, and one thing only." Deidara insisted, "The explosion itself, hmm!" He produced a small clay bird, tossing it into the air; it expanded into a much larger version and swooped down, scooping the lifeless Gaara into its mouth. "It's not even in the same league compared to your grotesque puppet show!"

Sasori retaliated with a jab of his poison coated scorpion tail, but missed as the blond Akatsuki leapt onto the clay bird, grinning. "See you around, my man." With that, he steered his clay creation toward the mouth of the cave, flying past a bewildered, furious Naruto.

"Just where the hell do you think you're going?!" He demanded, running after the giant bird.

' _No...this is exactly what that creep wants! I can't let him go alone!'_ Gritting her teeth determinedly, Nozomi spun on her heel and raced out of the cave after her friend, leaving a frustrated Kakashi behind with the rest of their team.

"Naruto! Nozomi!" The silver haired jounin exhaled softly, slumping his shoulders briefly. _'As always, he just can't help himself!...And_ ** _she's_** _just as hard headed when it comes to_ ** _protecting_** _him!'_

He turned his attention to the two kunoichi to his right. "Naruto, Nozomi and I will handle the one outside. Sakura, Lady Chiyo. Take the one inside, but please, don't do anything rash until team Gai gets back!"

With that said, the copy ninja turned to leave, trying to ignore the feeling of dread in his gut. He trusted Sakura, and he was sure that Chiyo was strong enough to hold her own as well, but the fact remained that they knew little to nothing about the Akatsuki's capabilities. Still, he had no choice but to leave it up to the two kunoichi, as not only Naruto had run off, but Nozomi, too.

' _As if one enraged jinchuuriki wasn't enough..'_ he thought with a slight shake of his head.

He only hoped Nozomi was more even tempered than his knuckle head of a pupil. Her own response to the situation, however, made him doubtful. She may not have made as much of a fuss as Naruto, but she had still begun to transform into...whatever it was that she carried within. Not only that, but Deidara had managed to provoke her with so little effort.

Kakashi frowned deeply as he hurried to catch up with his students. If both of them lost their cool and went berserk, he was doubtful that he'd be enough on his own to stop such a rampage...

* * *

 _And now for an important author's note:_

 ** _For a while now I have been mentioning that I'm getting further along in my pregnancy. Well, the end is practically staring me in the face now- I'll be going in to have my baby next month on the 21st. Time has really flown! Because that is the day that I usually try to update this story, I will likely be uploading a few days earlier than normal next month. That being said, this story will be going on hiatus after chapter 6 (the conclusion of this arc) for the following reasons:_**

 ** _1\. I don't have the next arc fully planned, and need a fresh, rested mind to work on it. If any of you are parents you know that's something I won't have much of pretty soon! ;) That's not to say I won't be still working on chapters but it'll be a very, very slow process...  
_**

 ** _2\. After really thinking about this story I made a couple changes that altered certain events planned for this story. I have since checked my notes for consistency, but I'm not 100% satisfied with how some things line up anymore and need to revise a bit further. It's better to hold off than have a bunch of chapters pre-written that suddenly need to all be redone._**

 _ **Anyhow, we're still a couple chapters away from the hiatus but I wanted to warn everyone in advance. ^^ I am still working on chapter 6, which I'd like to put up as well next month for a double update (as not only will the 21st be my baby's birthday, but it's Nozomi's as well!) but we'll see what happens. I've got a lot of doctor's appointments and other prepping to do between now and the 21st, making finding time to write challenging. For this reason I am also unable to respond to reviews (but I read every single one!) since my time to write is being solely devoted to chapter 6. Thank you all for taking the time to read this, and for your understanding as I prepare for a very busy season of my life. ^^**_

 _'Till next time, stay awesome, and I hope you are enjoying the story. ^_^  
_

 _~NinjaKitty91_


	5. Kazekage Rescue Arc Pt 4

_Hello everybody! NinjaKitty91 here with another update as promised! Thanks to everyone for reviewing and adding this story to their alerts and favorites. It really means a lot, you guys! ^^ There is an important note at the end of this chapter, just FYI . ;) Okay, I won't keep you any longer...on with the story!_ **  
**

* * *

Just when Nozomi thought things couldn't get any worse, they did.

"Give him back!" Naruto shouted as Deidara soared out of reach on his giant clay bird. "Give Gaara back!"

In response, the man gazed down, his one visible eye widening slightly as it landed on Nozomi and Kakashi, who stood on either side of the boy. "Hmm, you're joining in, too?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Gold eyes narrowed as Nozomi glared up at the blond, annoyance flitting across her features as he flew in circles around them, just out of reach. "Come down and fight, already! Or are you so afraid you'll lose that you've gotta fly around on that stupid looking thing?!"

Her words appeared to touch a nerve as a vein throbbed on Deidara's forehead, his face contorting into a dark scowl. "How dare you! I'll make you pay for insulting my art, hmm! But first..." He broke off, shifting his attention to Kakashi, who's headband was lifted, exposing a red iris with black tomoes.

"Are you sure you really wanna waste your time on me, hmm, Kakashi-sensei with the sharingan?" There was a hint of amusement in his voice as he spoke, grinning deviously. "You know, my man Sasori is probably a more dangerous opponent than I am. As much as I hate to say that, hmm. His idea of art is very different from mine." Glancing beyond the trio of shinobi, he made a satisfied noise. "Ah...it seems they've started."

 _'Sakura-chan!'_ Nozomi's eyes darted back toward the mouth of the cave she'd come from, and a pang of guilt struck her as she realized that by rushing out after Naruto, she'd left one of her best friends to fend for herself. Granted, she hadn't expected Kakashi to leave the pinkette alone with the Sand elder to pursue Naruto as well, but looking back she realized it had been inevitable. She scowled at Deidara as he resumed speaking, her impatience building up as he rambled on.

"How confident are you in that young girl and the old lady? You really think they're good enough to handle my man Sasori? Huh?"

It didn't take a genius like Shikamaru to figure out what was really going on here. Deidara was clearly threatened by Kakashi's presence, and trying to pressure him into rushing back to aid their fellow ninja inside.

 _'Maybe that's not such a bad idea...'_ Nozomi thought, chewing her lip thoughtfully. _'After all, I'm here too. I can help Naruto-kun out in Kakashi-sensei's place.'_ She began to suggest just that, but her words were silenced as Naruto chose that exact moment to voice everyone's concerns.

"Go on, sensei. Go to Sakura. I'll handle this!" His fist clenched at his sides as he repeated himself, urging Kakashi not to worry. "I'll save Gaara!"

Without any further warning, the blond lunged at Deidara, only to have his power turned against him as the Akatsuki maneuvered his bird out of reach. Unable to stop his ascent, Naruto crashed into the side of a cliff; the force of his impact buried him deep in the rocks, trapping him inside.

Seeing this, Nozomi jumped off the torii, evading the clay bomb that Deidara threw toward her and Kakashi as she hurried to the cliff that held her friend captive. "I'm here, Naruto-kun!"

Clapping her hands together, she concentrated, her eyes turning red as she channeled the beast inside once more. She was rewarded seconds later as the bubbling, purple chakra of Kumoraku cloaked her hands in a mass of chakra shaped like claws. "Hold on, I'll get you out of there!"

Sending chakra to the soles of her feet to ensure she'd stick to the cliff side, the brunette crouched down and began digging. The chakra coating her hands flared to life as it came in contact with the hard surface, tearing away chunks of rock.

As she worked, Nozomi was vaguely aware of the fight Kakashi was waging against Deidara to her left, throwing kunai and shuriken to deflect various clay monsters from making contact with her and Naruto. It wasn't long before a tanned fist punched through the bedrock, and she leaned back to avoid being hit as the blond haired jinchuuriki emerged from the rocky prison.

Hate filled crimson eyes shot toward the Akatsuki as he growled, noticing Gaara's legs hanging out of the clay bird's mouth. "Let go of him! I'll never let you have him! I'll get Gaara. Nothing can stop me!"

"You're quite an unusual jinchuuriki, aren't you?" Came Deidara's reply as he watched the blond struggle until the rest of his body was free, "I thought you were all sullen loners who didn't care about anyone else." Realizing that his words were affecting both Naruto and Nozomi, he scoffed.

"To date we've destroyed two jinchuuriki. Not including _him_ , of course. Hmm, but nobody ever tried to save them from us before. Not a single friend or neighbor. Not a soul came to their aid. Hmm, in fact it seemed like most people were _happy_ to finally be rid of them. Hehehe!"

 _'Just listen to this guy, talking about jinchuurikis like they're not even people! If anyone's a monster here, it's_ _ **him**_ _!'_ Nozomi's teeth ground together, and she growled softly under her breath. It was getting harder and harder to keep in control of her temper, and she could tell from Naruto's body language that he was feeling the same way.

It seemed Deidara was enjoying toying with their feelings, because he kept going. "You can't forsake one of your own kind, can you? You feel connected to this pathetic creature. Such a shame! Gaara died when the One-Tail was extracted from him. Very soon now the same thing will happen...to _you_."

Just like that, the thin layer of control Nozomi was grasping onto snapped; Naruto's bellows and threats faded into the background as she let the robed man's words sink in. She'd known all along that the Akatsuki's goal was to capture Naruto and his tailed beast, but to hear it spoken so callously...The dam keeping her in check broke as she let loose a snarl of her own.

"No way. There's no _way_ I'll let you take Naruto. Do you hear me?!" Rage burned in blood red eyes as she turned to meet the Akatsuki's stare. "I'll stop you right here!"

Deidara watched as the brunette's chakra claws expanded to cloak her entire body, his eyebrows lifting in amusement. "Ah, I know who you are...The Kubota jinchuuriki. Itachi warned us about you earlier." He smirked.

"That's enough out of you already! Just shut up!" Nozomi roared as she crouched on all fours and sprang off the wall toward the man.

This elicited a snicker from her target as he flew higher, dodging her swiping claws with ease. As gravity pulled her back down, he produced a mound of clay from his palm, shaping it into a miniature clay bird that he proceeded to hurl at the brunette. "I warned you earlier. Consider this a lesson not to insult my art!"

Kakashi, having realized Deidara's intentions threw a kunai to knock it off course, but the force of the resulting explosion sped up Nozomi's downward descent, and she landed in the shallow water with such force that a huge wave of water rose from the impact point.

Naruto and Kakashi flash stepped down to the fallen girl, offering her a hand but the brunette pushed them aside and got up herself, grimacing.

"Damn, I missed." She growled, glaring up at the sky where the current object of her rage remained. "Get down here you creep!"

She made to run up the cliff but Kakashi's hand clamped down on her shoulder, stopping her in place, and she glanced back in confusion. "Sensei? What are you...? Let me go!"

Rather than adhere to her demands, however, the copy ninja fixed her with a firm look, shaking his head. "You can't take him on alone, Nozomi. Need I remind you this guy took on and defeated a Kage on his own?" He paused, watching her face as rationality won out over rage and exhaled with relief. "The only way we're going to stop him is if we all combine our efforts."

Nozomi gave a deep sigh before nodding. "Right...I understand..sorry."

 _'Still, if he even lays a finger on Naruto-kun while I'm here, there's gonna be hell to pay, and not even Kakashi-sensei will be able to stop me! Even if I have to go into_ _ **that**_ _form..'_

"I've had it! Hand over Gaara right now!" Naruto's shout drew Nozomi out of her thoughts and she looked up just in time to see Deidara smirk, his clay bird completely swallowing Gaara out of sight. Then, without a word he turned and retreated, though she could tell by his pace that he wanted Naruto to follow him.

 _'He's hoping to get him alone, huh?'_ Her eyes narrowed and she balled up her fists, claws digging into her palms as she tensed up. _'Well, that's not going to happen as long as I'm here.'_

"You bastard! You're not getting away! Hold it right there!" Naruto shouted, rising to the bait as expected.

Kakashi tried to stop him, but the only answer the blond gave was to again tell him to stay and help Sakura. "I can take this guy, Kakashi-sensei!"

The silver haired jonin could do nothing but watch as the orange clothed ninja raced further away, conflict written on his face as he considered his options. Before he could come to a decision, however, Nozomi took off running after their blond haired teammate.

"Don't worry about it, Kakashi-sensei!" She called out over her shoulder, glancing back at the beyond bewildered looking Sharingan weilder. "I'll stay with Naruto-kun, and you can go check up on Sakura-chan and Chiyo-san!"

So once again, Kakashi was forced to watch as one of his students broke formation and ran off. Inhaling deep through his nose he glanced back, feeling the tremors of a fierce battle coming from the cave. "...Damn it."

Even if he wanted to, he didn't feel comfortable taking Nozomi up on her suggestion -she'd justified his concerns about leaving her and Naruto to fight Deidara alone. Had he not been there, the brunette might have lost control and surrendered to her demon's blood lust. There was no way he could in good conscience leave the two jinchuurikis to go help the others. He'd just have to have faith that whatever was going on, Sakura and Granny Chiyo could handle it on their own.

Looking away from the cave, he sighed deeply and took off after his young teammates.

…..

"There's no chance I'm letting you get away!" Naruto shouted. Coming to a ravine with large log like tree limbs growing out of both sides, he jumped up them like stairs and continued running.

Nozomi, who'd been right behind him up to this point came to a halt, eying the narrow path; the logs seemed to grow out of both sides of the rocky exterior, so at least they ought to be stable. Still, one wrong step and it'd be a one way trip down, so she'd need to be careful. Snapping out of her thoughts, the brunette hurried up the logs, doubling her efforts so she could catch up with Naruto.

At the same time, Deidara turned and tossed three clay creations at them, forcing the blond to slow his movements to try and avoid the attack. Unable to slow down or move out of the way in time, Nozomi collided with him from behind and they were both hit by the blasts created by the bird-like dragon creatures.

"Damn it!" Naruto grunted as he pulled himself onto another trunk further below. He gazed up at the retreating form of Deidara, and seeing the man getting further away, a growl left his lips. "We're not done yet!"

Clinging to the same log herself, Nozomi struggled to get her footing beside the boy. She had no sooner done this, however when another bird whizzed past, forcing the two of them to drop into a crouch to avoid the hit. Glancing back, they noticed for the first time that they weren't alone: Kakashi was trailing them, and catching up fast.

Time slowed all around them as Deidara's latest bomb flew at the silver haired man. A deafening blast resulted, filling the area with smoke, and the two jinchuuriki called out to their team leader worriedly. To their relief, the jonin burst out of the smoke unscathed, and Naruto's attention turned once more to the giant bird in the sky.

"Alright, that does it!"

"Naruto, wait!" Kakashi called out, though his words fell on deaf ears as the spiky haired boy took off again.

Nozomi grimaced, wishing he'd at least fallen back to confirm that their sensei really was okay. Still, she knew how hot headed the boy was, and it was for that reason that she couldn't allow him to face Deidara alone. He may outrank her in terms of strength, but she understood the concept of teamwork: two jinchuuriki stood a better chance against the man than one. Besides that, she reminded herself as she hurried after the blond, it was her mission to make sure he stayed safe.

Seeing the brunette follow Naruto, Kakashi frowned and hurried to close the distance between the three of them. To his chagrin, Deidara chose this moment to toss two medium clay spiders onto the logs in his path. The minute he tried to pass, the bombs detonated, causing a tremor that made Naruto and Nozomi both look back, chorusing the copy ninja's name in unison.

The concern was wiped from their faces as Kakashi emerged once again, unharmed, and Naruto remarked that the man was still the best, earning a relieved nod from his cat eared teammate.

Realizing that they weren't getting any closer to their target, the blond glanced back at his two companions, eyes filled with frustration. "Step it up, Kakashi-sensei! You too, Nozomi! Let's go, we're gonna lose sight of him if we don't get a move on!"

"You're the whole reason he's here. Don't forget that," Kakashi reminded him calmly, "He won't get so far ahead as to lose us completely."

Still, Naruto remained impatient, and he demanded the man just tell him how to take Deidara down, adding that they were running out of time. Despite Kakashi's assurance that he did indeed have a couple strategies in mind, the blond wasn't satisfied, and he growled, shouting over his shoulder. "I can't hang back anymore, don't you get it?! I've gotta get to Gaara before it's too late!"

"Naruto, wait!" Kakashi protested as the blond surged ahead at a breakneck speed, leaving he and Nozomi in the dust without another word.

A choked gasp escaped the brunette as she pushed herself to move faster, clenching her teeth as she began to feel a burn in her calves. She was used to running laps for Saera around the village back home, but even those workouts didn't usually require her to be moving quite so briskly, and she was beginning to feel worn out.

 _ **"Come now. Surely you can run longer than**_ _ **this**_ _ **."**_ A velvety voice mocked in her head, and she grimaced, shaking it away.

 _"Shut up, Kumoraku. I don't have time for this now!"_ She retorted in her mind as she resumed her focus on catching Naruto. For a minute it seemed like she was actually getting faster as she saw the boy's orange form drawing nearer. That was when she tripped and stumbled forward, barely catching herself on all fours.

 _'Damn it, this isn't enough! I need more power if I'm going to keep up with him!'_ In her desperation, she began to pull out her demon's chakra, and it clung to her like a second skin as she leapt from log to log on all fours.

Watching as his other student retreated further ahead, Kakashi's eye widened as he noticed the ominous energy cloak the brunette; the harder she pushed herself, the darker the chakra grew, taking on a near blackish purple glow. _'This is exactly what Saera warned me about...I've got to stop her before it's too late!'_

He was pulled from his musings as a hoard of 8 legged clay crickets rained down from the sky, and he was forced to focus on how to get around the things without making them explode. This turned out to be quite a task as the creatures were following him, and he had little choice but to fall back and come up with a plan of action.

Unfortunately, every maneuver he tried resulted in more of the pesky bombs detonating in his path, and he was forced to stop, calling out to Naruto to wait up. The blond's response was that he was slowing him down, however, and so the jonin was forced to watch as Naruto continued to race ahead with Nozomi right at his heels. Well aware that either one of them could lose control anytime if they remained unattended, Kakashi straightened out of his crouch, watching the clay creations cautiously. _'There's no time for this.'_

As he'd watched Nozomi run in pursuit of her fellow jinchuuriki, he'd taken note of the physical changes she was beginning to display. Mainly the fact that her chakra cloak was beginning to resemble coarse, black fur the harder she pushed herself. If he didn't catch up and put a stop to things soon, there was bound to be trouble, and while he was prepared to handle Naruto, he wasn't exactly sure how to deal with a blood thirsty shadow cat.

With this in mind, the jonin jumped off his perch and began to retreat back the way he'd come from, and the swarm of crickets followed close behind. Jumping from log to log, Kakashi continued to build up speed, waiting for the opportune moment to shift gears. His chance came shortly as he reached a particularly wide log and shifted his body, landing with his feet against the wood briefly before propelling himself back, beneath the crickets. It looked like he was going to make it. Unfortunately, the creatures mimicked him, bouncing off the same log; with their momentum combined with the power of their oversized hind legs, they caught up to him almost immediately and blew up on contact.

...

Several meters ahead, Nozomi's ears perked at the explosion and she came to a halt, looking back. When several seconds passed without any sign of Team 7's leader, her eyes widened in shock. _'No way...don't tell me they actually got Kakashi-sensei...'_

Her attention was drawn back to Naruto as she heard the blond voice his own concerns, and she frowned, lunging ahead to catch up again. She hadn't gone more than a few leaps, however when Deidara swooped down from the sky, blocking both her and Naruto's path.

"At last," He stated smugly, "Now it's just the two of us, hmm!"

Pressing her ears back in annoyance, Nozomi growled at the Akatsuki. "Hey, don't forget about me! I'm still here too, you know!"

A mischievous smirk appeared on the man's face briefly before he glanced at her. "Ehh, you don't look all that threatening to me." He remarked, giving a careless wave of his hand. "Run along, kitty cat. I don't have time to play with you right now, hmm."

At his dismissal, Nozomi's canines ground together, her brows knitting as she clenched her fists so hard her lengthened claws left crescent shaped marks on her palms. "Not a chance, creep! If you want Naruto-kun, you'll have to go through me first!"

"You're so loud...aren't cats supposed to be meek and quiet?" Deidara heaved a soft sigh and shook his head before shifting his focus to Naruto. His lips twitched into a devious grin as he took in the death glare the red eyed blond was giving him. "Aww, don't scowl like that!" He mock pouted, "And here I was about to let you see your friend!"

His oversized bird opened its mouth to reveal the unmoving, unbreathing Gaara, eliciting a feral growl from Naruto, who trembled with rage.

A laugh left Deidara's lips. "Oh, that's right. You're a jinchuuriki, too! I bet seeing him like this drives you crazy!"

Nozomi's eyes shifted from the man to his prisoner and her heart clenched with sadness. She wanted to believe that the red head was simply pretending, or using some sort of illusion, but the facts were fairly clear: there was no way he could still be alive. Even so, she couldn't let him be disrespected by such a monster of a man! Her lips parted to reveal an enlarged set of canines as she snarled, eyes burning into the clay user.

"How dare you talk so callously about someone you don't even know!" She cracked her knuckles, growling.

"Give him back right now!" Naruto demanded, dangerously close to losing his composure.

The two prepared to lunge, but before they could attack, a blue gloved hand clamped onto each of their shoulders. "Don't do it!"

Startled, the two teens glanced back, surprised and relieved as they saw who had dared stop them. "Kakashi-sensei!"

Deidara, on the other hand was not so thrilled, complaining that he could've sworn the jonin had just been blown up, earning a smirk as the silver haired man looked up at him.

"Sorry, but it wasn't the real me that blew up! Next time you should teach your critters to tell the difference between a real human and a shadow clone...That is, if there is a next time."

Wordlessly, Deidara retreated back into the sky, out of reach, and Naruto growled. "Don't move!"

"I could say the same to you." Kakashi said as he grabbed the boy's shoulder once more. Noticing that Nozomi also looked ready to take off, he grabbed her arm and shook his head. "It'll be alright. We _will_ get Gaara back, so calm down. Both of you!"

Seeing the blond relax, albeit reluctantly, he released his hold on him. "Listen, Naruto, you're not used to fighting an opponent like this. That's not all. You're a close combat fighter -he excels at long range. That makes him your _worst_ enemy."

"...Nozomi." His eyes narrowed as they shifted to Nozomi, and he tightened his hold. "Get a hold of yourself! Do you not realize that you're just moments away from completely losing control of yourself?!"

Red eyes widened in surprise at his tone, and Nozomi froze, glancing down at her arm, where the chakra cloak was beginning to change into coarse, black fur. _'He's right...I'm_ _ **this**_ _close to turning into that ugly 'Kuronozo' form!'_ Frowning, she let her arm drop to her side and squinted her eyes shut tight, as if not looking at it would make the ugly cloak go away.

Satisfied that he'd finally gotten through to her, Kakashi let go of her arm. "I understand how serious this situation is, but it's not worth going into that state and losing your mind. Your teacher said that once you've transformed into that stage, the only way to snap you out of it is with brute force, but..."

He paused, watching the regret and fear flit across her face. "I think this time you can probably undo it yourself, since that monster hasn't fully manifested yet. Just focus on calming down and making the chakra go away."

Nozomi nodded slowly, slightly relieved not to be on the receiving end of one of the copy ninja's more brutal attacks and took a deep breath, exhaling heavily. _'Okay, calm down...just focus on going back to normal...I can do this.'_

As she looked around, she realized that Naruto was regarding her with shock and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course the blond would only now be realizing that she'd gone into such a state; he'd been far too preoccupied with catching Deidara to pay her any attention before, aside from urging her to pick up her pace.

Still, the look on his face made her a little uncomfortable, almost like she was being silently judged, and she shut her eyes tight, concentrating all her energy on evening out her breathing and calming down.

After what felt like far too long, the transformation begin to recede; the nearly fur like cloak dissolved back into its chakra state before disintegrating altogether, and her fangs and claws reverted to their normal size.

When she opened her eyes there was no longer red bleeding into the irises, Kakashi couldn't help the soft sigh of relief that escaped. Somehow, they'd avoided a confrontation with the girl's inner monster. Hopefully, it would stay that way.

"That's better." He paused to collect his thoughts before speaking again. "Now, as I was saying...Nozomi. The jutsu we've been working on might help in this case, but you have yet to perfect it. You could still try using it, but that's a risk I don't feel comfortable taking this time. Understand?"

Nozomi frowned but nodded her understanding anyway, and he went on. "There are only two ways to beat this kind of foe. One is to force him to fight up close and personal. Your only other option is to beat him at his own game."

"What? How can we do that?" Naruto cut in, surprised, and Kakashi wasted no time going into his explanation.

"Depending on which strategy is chosen, you'd either need a long range specialist, or someone on your team who can use long range ninjutsu to support that kind of distance combat. If you don't have one or the other, then there's no way you'll beat him, period. Now, if you have the superior intellect of Shikamaru, that would be a different story-"

"Spell it out, will ya? Which one are _you_ , Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto interrupted once more.

"Ahh...me, huh?" Kakashi pretended to think for a moment before answering. "Well, I have a superior intellect like Shikamaru, I'm a jonin, and I can sustain long range battle."

Nozomi narrowed her eyes in disbelief. _'If he meets all those requirements why hasn't he done anything yet?!'_

"Then we meet all the conditions, right?" Naruto questioned, the excitement apparent in his tone, and Kakashi nodded.

"That's why I told you to calm down." The jonin explained.

"Well, let's hurry up and get to it!" The blond said anxiously, feeling his impatience begin to rise again.

"Yeah, why are we just standing here talking?" Nozomi added, having decided that she'd remained silent for long enough.

Kakashi's eyes slid sideways to the brunette, and he raised his brows at the anxiousness on her face. _'While she appears to have calmed down on the outside, she's just as impatient to get moving as Naruto. What's her motivation in this case?'_

"It's not as simple as it sounds. We can't just chase after him. He'll never leave himself open."

Nozomi listened intently as he went on, grimacing when he reminded them that this Akatsuki member had not only infiltrated the Sand, but he'd also defeated the Kazekage solely on his own.

"It's a tough challenge," The Sharingan wielder concluded, "All we can do is try and punch a hole in his defenses. We're gonna have to work together."

' _That's right. All we can do is put our power together and hope that it's enough to take this guy down.'_ Nozomi thought, clenching her fists. _'Still, I wish he'd let me at least try my jutsu. Even if it's not perfect, it might help create an opening for another attack or something! Maybe I should bring it up to Kakashi-sensei and see if he'll reconsider..'_

The brunette opened her mouth to do just that, but movement in the sky drew her attention upward instead, and she flattened her ears angrily as she realized that Deidara was beginning to retreat once more. _'If we don't do_ _ **something**_ _, and soon, he's gonna get away!'_

"If you are following my train of thought, then keep listening." Both Nozomi and Naruto glanced back at Kakashi, who had a firm look in his eyes as he addressed them both. "I've got a plan."

…..

Team Kakashi trailed just below Deidara as they jumped from log to log, keeping the clay user in sight.

"You all set?"

"Yeah, I've got it, don't worry." Naruto responded, and Kakashi's eyes shifted toward the other member of their team, who was being more quiet than normal since he'd laid out his plan. "Nozomi?"

The brunette in question flinched, hearing her name and nodded, giving a tense grin. "...I'm ready.." Despite her efforts, she hadn't gotten to ask Kakashi to reconsider trying her jutsu. There simply hadn't been time to bring it up. By the time the jonin had explained his plan, an anxious Naruto urged them to get moving, and they'd taken off as a group, leaving no room for any further discussion.

 _'I'll just have to look for an opening and hope Kakashi-sensei doesn't get too mad.'_ Cat ears pressed back uncomfortably as Nozomi considered the potential outcome of her disobedience. _'..Maybe he won't mind as much if I'm able to create an opening for them..'_

If she seemed overly nervous or jumpy, Kakashi didn't seem to notice as he clasped his hands and joined his middle fingers together, eyes closing in concentration. "Here we go."

A few moments later, Naruto glanced over at the man, his tone filled with impatience as he asked if he was ready yet.

Sensing her friend's urgency, Nozomi tore her gaze off their target to glance at their team leader as well. "This guy's not getting any closer." She remarked, frowning. Why weren't they attacking already?

"Hold your horses," Kakashi replied, eyes still closed, "Remember, I don't have as much chakra as you. It's going to take time."

Nozomi gritted her teeth, glancing back up at the Akatsuki member. Was it just her imagination or had he drifted further away in the few seconds she'd looked away? _'I know Kakashi-sensei needs to build up chakra, but...someone's gotta slow this guy down some!'_ Her eyes lit up as she realized that this was her chance to act, and she channeled extra chakra into her legs. _'Please forgive me, you guys.'_ She cast a nervous side glance at her teammates before bounding ahead.

"What the?!- Nozomi! We're supposed to wait for Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted as she broke formation, and she winced inwardly, resisting the urge to go back. If her jutsu could help buy even a little bit of time, then it would be worth having her best friend mad at her. If anything, she had a feeling he was more upset that she hadn't let _him_ in on her plan so he could go with her.

As she ran, Nozomi went through a series of hand signs and closed her eyes, concentrating on the moisture in the air and drawing it toward herself, gradually changing it to ice. When she opened her eyes, a soft groan escaped her at what she saw.

' _Ice bullets?! They're supposed to be ice_ _ **shards**_ _! What went wrong_ _ **this**_ _time?!'_ Resisting the urge to face palm, lest she risk disrupting the jutsu further, the kunoichi guided the bullets toward her. Then, with a burst of wind chakra from her lips, she sent them soaring toward the unsuspecting Akatsuki member in the sky.

To her dismay, he had chosen that instant to glance back and, seeing the incoming attack, directed his bird out of the way, evading the bullets with ease. "Is that the best you've got?" A smirk appeared on his face; the wrong jinchuuriki may have caught up, but he could possibly use her to draw the other one closer.

"Why don't you run on home? I've got better things to do than waste my time with weaklings like you, hmm!" Reaching his hand into his pouch of clay, he crafted two detonating spiders and tossed them down at the brunette.

' _He's fast!'_ Nozomi's eyes widened, and she lunged sideways. Unfortunately, she was too close to fall back in time, and the bombs landed just inches from her. The brunette barely had time to shield her face before they exploded, and the resulting blast sent her flying backwards off her perch. The back of her head hit another log, and momentarily stunned, she went slack. Somehow she retained consciousness, but her body refused to obey her commands, weakened by overexertion; Kumoraku wasn't trying to offer her any help either, likely miffed at being stopped from transforming her before, so all she could do was wait for the impending collision.

"Nozomi!"

A blur of black and orange entered her vision, and she realized with a start that she was no longer falling. Instead it felt like she was _flying_. Glancing up, her suspicions were confirmed: Naruto had caught her and was carrying her back the way she'd come. Realizing she'd been spared a painful landing, she opened her mouth to thank him but stopped as she noticed the stern expression on his face. "You didn't have to do that…" She averted her gaze, pouting. "...I could've handled this on my own."

Blue eyes darted to meet hers before the boy snorted, tightening his hold. "Puh, you mean like how you _handled_ that attack right now?" Reaching a safe spot, he stopped to wait for Kakashi and set the brunette on her feet, fixing her with a hard glare.

"I thought Kakashi-sensei said _not_ to use your jutsu...and you agreed! Why would you run off and do something so risky?!" He ran his hand through his hair, frustration plain on his face as he scowled at the cat eared girl. "What if I hadn't caught you?! You could've been seriously hurt -ttebayo!"

Nozomi's brows furrowed as she listened. "Huh, look who's talking, Mr. I-run-into-danger-without-thinking! I was just trying to slow the guy down, okay?!" She folded her arms across her chest, ears pinned back in annoyance. "Besides," she added, lowering her voice to a volume he could just barely make out, "I'll bet the only reason you're actually mad is because _I_ confronted the guy instead of _you_."

"What'd you say?!" Naruto's eyes narrowed as he strained to hear her, though it didn't take him long to figure out what she'd said, and his brows knit angrily. He began to make a retort, but was drowned out as Kakashi, having caught up, interrupted his train of thought.

"Can it, you two. Don't you see that you're playing right into the enemy's hands, bickering like this?" He broke off with a sigh. "I'm almost ready, so just be patient….. _okay_ , Nozomi?"

Nozomi let her shoulders sag and nodded, visibly deflating at the disappointment in the older man's tone. "Yes, sensei." Too ashamed to look at her teammates, she fixed her gaze straight ahead as they resumed running as a group. _'I was only trying to help...but I'm so lame, I couldn't even do_ _ **that**_ _. Maybe Saera-sensei was right, and I'm_ _ **not**_ _ready for these kinds of missions yet...'_

As the face of her teacher appeared in her head, the brunette narrowed her eyes, jaw clenching firmly as she shook her head. _'No. It's because of_ _ **her**_ _\- if she'd just taken the time to_ _ **help**_ _with my ninjutsu, maybe I would've been able to properly execute my Piercing Ice Shards jutsu, and Naruto-kun wouldn't have had to save me! I'm supposed to be watching out for_ _ **him**_ _, not the other way around!'_

"My preparation's complete!"

"So that's what you were telling us about?"

Nozomi was jerked out of her thoughts by Kakashi and Naruto's voices, and she blinked back to reality, glancing over just in time to see a strange pattern appear in the man's left eye.

"So that's…"

"That's right," Kakashi replied, "My new sharingan. Now let's go, Naruto, Nozomi!"

"Right!" The two younger ninjas chorused as they dashed ahead to finally confront Deidara.

Naruto suddenly glanced back toward Kakashi, who quickly took notice and inquired what was on his mind. "Kakashi-sensei...don't sweat it if this doesn't work. 'Cause if it doesn't, I'll make sure to settle things once and for all!"

Nozomi's eyes shifted over to the blond, hearing his determination and her hands clenched at her sides. _'Is there even anything I can do to help at this point?'_

 _"It doesn't matter how strong or weak you are. If you believe in yourself, none of that other stuff matters. Whatever you're lacking you'll make up for with willpower and guts!"_

The brunette's eyes widened a fraction as she suddenly recalled Naruto's words from the night before; in the process, lifting a burden from her mind. _'That's right. I've got to believe in myself! After all, who's gonna put their faith in someone that doesn't even believe in them self?'_

Her eyes shifted toward her blond haired friend as she shot him a small smile. Who knew that the advice he'd given her before would already be coming in handy? Resolving not to give up on herself anymore, the kunoichi gazed into the sky with renewed vigor, determination coursing through her veins as she watched the Kazekage's assailant glide above them.

 _'It's time to take this creep down!'_

"Time to give it a try." Kakashi said, dragging her again from her inner musings as he gazed from Naruto to her simultaneously. "Naruto. You and Nozomi had better fall back a little."

Nodding, Nozomi followed her fellow jinchuuriki's lead, dropping her speed to give the man some room. As the two trailed behind, watching their leader, something bizarre began to take place up above. The sky was shifting, making it appear that the very fabric of time itself had torn as a large vortex opened, centered solely on Deidara and his bird!

Realizing that this must be the work of Kakashi's new sharingan, Nozomi stared in awe and bewilderment as the Akatsuki member began to struggle, his movement stopping as he fought to keep from being sucked in by Kakashi's visual jutsu.

It was then that she realized Naruto was no longer with her, and the brunette stopped, glancing around. "Naruto-kun?" The four syllables had barely left her mouth when she spotted him climbing the side of the ravine and she gave a sigh of relief. He must be trying to get a closer look. Sending chakra to the palms of her hands and feet, she scurried up the cliff side beside the blond and followed his line of sight where Deidara and his bird were looking more distorted with each second.

Just when it seemed that there would be no escape, the opening in the sky vanished. Not before sucking his arm inside, Nozomi realized as she heard him scream in pain, and his now empty sleeve flapped in the wind effortlessly.

As she watched, another dimensional barrier emerged centered on the now armless Akatsuki member, who desperately tried to escape by commandeering his clay bird to fly away. Kakashi leapt out of the canyon and took to the trees in hot pursuit.

"C'mon, let's follow him!" Naruto suggested, already taking off on the same path his teacher had taken.

Nozomi nodded her agreement, hurrying to catch up with the blond while keeping one eye trained on the events taking place in the sky; the other, she kept focused on where she was going as they leapt from tree branch to tree branch.

A few seconds later, the sky returned to normal, and the brunette glanced up where Deidara had unfortunately escaped capture once again. A few meters away, she could see Kakashi leaning into a tree trunk, his hunched over position giving away his exhaustion. _'That sharingan must use up a lot of chakra..'_

A blur of orange drew her attention upward again, and she noticed that Naruto had leapt into the fray. Together with a shadow clone, he formed a rasengan and lunged at Deidara, forcing the man to abandon his bird in order to dodge; in the process he fell into the cluster of trees below.

Seeing that Naruto was already rescuing the Kazekage from the now decapitated clay bird, Nozomi turned her focus onto the Akatsuki member, silently leaping from tree to tree as she followed his downward path. After a few long seconds, the man landed on a branch, regaining his footing.

"Koori Tsume no Jutsu!"

Deidara was forced to jump to another branch as Nozomi suddenly jumped out of the foliage above; her ice encased claws collided with the spot he'd just been standing on, causing the wood to splinter, and small chunks of bark broke off, falling to the ground below.

Clicking her tongue at the realization that she'd missed, the brunette stood up straight and dusted herself off, letting the chakra infused ice melt away as she glared in the direction her target had retreated. "Don't think you'll get away so easy!"

Nearby on another tree branch, Naruto's three clones had caught the clay bird's head and were digging through the clay to free its prisoner. Meanwhile, the original Naruto went to make sure that Kakashi was alright.

Finally the clones broke through the clay and got to the Kazekage, but the relief was short lived as he failed to respond to various pleas to speak. Realizing that what Deidara had said back in the cave was true, one of the clones threw his head back and yelled out in grief. "Gaara!"

The commotion drew Nozomi's attention away from the blond haired Akatsuki, and she cast a sorrowful gaze onto the three Naruto clones. _'So, it's true...we_ _ **were**_ _too late..'_ Her ears plastered to her skull sadly.

"You will pay for this!" Naruto shouted, eliciting a scoff from the concealed Akatsuki member.

"Hehe, yeah, yeah. Maybe someday I'll give you a rematch, kid. Ha!" He scoffed.

"You've let down your guard." Kakashi remarked coolly.

Deidara glanced back in time to see Naruto glaring at him, his fist balled up, and with no time to react, he gawked as the blond punched him in the jaw, knocking him off his perch on the branch.

Amazed at her friend's stealth and speed, Nozomi watched, wide eyed as Naruto followed the man off the branch, creating four clones on the way down. Each one grabbed a shoulder or ankle as he crash landed on the forest floor, holding him in place. The real Naruto landed roughly on his stomach, and began punching the man in the face with alternating fists that began to bleed from how hard he was hitting.

When he'd had enough, he used one of his clones to help form another rasengan that he proceeded to slam into the blond's chest. Only, the moment it made impact, the blue sphere sank into the man, revealing it to be a clay substitution!

 _'But that...where'd the real one go?!'_ Nozomi frowned, looking from left to right, but picking up no sign of the ponytailed man.

"Is that?!"

Kakashi's exclamation brought her back to attention, her eyes darting back to Naruto, and a hand flew to her mouth in shock as she saw the red chakra beginning to cloak the blond. "Naruto-kun!" As she continued to stare, the boy's body was submerged in it fully; soon, the chakra had taken the form of a fox.

With an enraged roar, Naruto punched Deidara's clay substitution, shattering it and reducing the ground below into a pile of rocks.

Nozomi was vaguely aware of the pained cries of Naruto's clones as they hunched over, but her eyes could not be pulled away from the spectacle below. Naruto now stood crouched atop a large rock, looking around wildly. His eyes held a blood lust she'd never witnessed before, but as chilling as that was, what really frightened the brunette was the fact that his chakra tail had split into two.

 _'He's got the Nine tailed fox spirit inside of him...so does that mean he'll continue sprouting tails until there's nine?'_ Gold eyes filled with concern as she watched the boy lunge in a random direction, taking down one of the large surrounding trees with ease thanks to his Nine Tails enhanced strength. _'If he's capable of causing that much destruction with just two tails, then...I can't let this go any longer!'_

A flash of blue and green in the corner of her eye distracted her, and she turned to see Kakashi moving closer to the angry jinchuuriki. _'I have to try and help stop this!'_ She thought, feeling her heart clench as she looked back at the blond. Without a word, she jumped down from her own safe spot and raced forward, cutting Kakashi off as she raced over to her friend.

"Nozomi, come back! He's not the Naruto you know right now!"

"I'm sorry sensei, but you're still tired from using your sharingan...let me deal with this!"

 _ **"What, do you really want to die that bad?!"**_

Ignoring both Kakashi and her inner demon, Nozomi cautiously moved forward. A chill raced up her spine as the two-tailed Naruto turned around, sensing her, and his lips pulled back in a snarl, exposing elongated canines. Reminding herself that no matter what this was her friend, Nozomi took another step closer.

"Naruto-kun, it's okay. We'll get that jerk and make him pay, I swear it! So please...go back to being the Naruto we know and love-"

 _ **"You're such an idiot. Do you really think that you can break through to him in this state?!"**_ Kumoraku's voice boomed angrily at her, and she frowned.

 _"Kumoraku, I don't care what you say. He's my friend, and I won't abandon him!"_

 _ **"Why are you always so reckless when it comes to that brat?"**_ The cat scoffed, rolling her large, red orbs upwards in annoyance. _**"If only I wasn't stuck in here! I would've enjoyed watching his reaction to learning he'd killed you in the midst of his tantrum!"**_

Nozomi gasped sharply at the cat's implication, but before she could come up with a retort, a bubbling, purple chakra leaked out of her own body, covering her from head to toe.

Kumoraku merely sneered, hearing her host's shocked cry. _**"Don't be so shocked, brat. I may hate you, but until I get out, I can't afford to let you die. Even if you**_ _ **are**_ _ **stupid."**_

Nozomi was jerked back to reality as Naruto lunged forward, and she stumbled, falling on her back in her efforts to dodge. As a result, the enraged jinchuuriki went sailing over her head, narrowly missing her.

"Nozomi, get back here now!" Came Kakashi's voice, sounding slightly frazzled as the blond stopped and turned around to glower at the fallen brunette.

Realizing that he was going to attack again, Nozomi quickly got to her feet, the chakra cloak clinging protectively to her body as she backed away slowly. Kakashi's words went in one ear and out the other as she maintained eye contact with the beast that was her best friend.

"Hey...I know you're upset -you have every right to be- but all this destruction...it isn't you!" She watched as the jinchuuriki paused, preparing to lunge again, and swallowed hard.

"Please, Naruto-kun! Calm down and smile for me like you always do...and then we'll go get that nasty creep...and when it's all over, we can go to Ichiraku's, my treat!"

There was a pause, and for a split second she thought she might've broken through somewhat as Naruto's stance relaxed slightly. "Deal?" She held her hand out, cautiously lowering her guard.

The only answer she got was a guttural roar as the blond collided with her, and there was a sickening crunch as they went flying into a tree, only to break it in half as they kept going. Finally Nozomi's back hit another trunk, and though it cracked, she stopped moving, slouching onto the rocky floor and squeezing her eyes shut as pain flooded her body.

Her eyes fluttered open as a heavy weight landed on her stomach and she glanced up to see Naruto raising his arm, presumably to slit her throat. Could chakra cause fatal injuries? In this case, she figured it would be best to assume that it could. At least she was being protected by her demon's chakra...but she should still probably retreat in case it wasn't strong enough against this dangerous opponent. That, and she needed to assess her wounds to see if the damage was as serious as she suspected.

As if he'd sensed her train of thought, Naruto growled and pinned her arms, leaning in so close she could almost count the number of pointed fangs in his mouth. "Naruto-kun, please." She croaked weakly as the number of times she'd used her demon's power caught up to her, leaving her too fatigued to fight back.

"That's enough, Naruto!"

Naruto froze, his claws just above the brunette's throat, and turned his head to glance over his shoulder. His tails thrashed back and forth wildly as he spotted the source of the interruption, and to Nozomi's astonishment, he backed up off her, turning away.

A few minutes later, the brunette heard her name, but her senses were muddled, and the sounds around her blended into white noise as her eyelids drooped. The feeling of a hand on her shoulder alerted her to another's presence, and she gazed wearily up at a concerned Kakashi.

"Nozomi, are you alright? Can you stand?"

Rather than answer her superior's questions, Nozomi peered around him, frowning when she spotted the person she was looking for in the grass. "Naruto-is he…?"

Kakashi nodded tersely in response. "He's gonna be just fine now. How about you?"

"Thank goodness." A relieved smile played on the brunette's lips as her eyes fluttered, and she finally succumbed to the darkness.

* * *

 _Woah, talk about intense. xD I hope you all enjoyed this update!_

 ** _Now for an announcement:_ _Last chapter I hinted that I would be going on hiatus at the end of this story arc. I also said that I was going to try to finish and upload two chapters this month, since part 6 is the end of this arc. As it turns out I was able to finish both chapters (with tremendous thanks to fireaangel!) so in celebration of both Nozomi's birthday and my baby's arrival this Monday I will be uploading again! It'll be up either on Saturday or Sunday, depending on how soon I finish reformatting things. In the meantime, I would love to hear what you thought of this installment. ^_^b_**

 _That's all now...see you all again shortly! ;)  
_

 _~NinjaKitty91_


	6. Kazekage Rescue Arc Pt 5

_Hello everyone! I'm back as promised with the final installment of the Kazekage Rescue Arc for this story! Thank you to everyone for your favorites and reviewing. It means a lot to me. ^_^ And now, before I go on, I just want to thank my good buddy, fireaangel for her wonderful suggestions and opinions, and Kagome429 for her medical insight. I could not have finished this chapter without either of you! *hug*  
_

* * *

Darkness was the first thing Nozomi noted when she finally regained consciousness, and her eyes narrowed in confusion. Turning her head to the side, she was surprised when the blackness slid out of her vision; a cool sensation glided across her skin as the cause of her "blindness", a wet cloth, slipped off her face to land in her hair, dampening it.

No longer a prisoner of the dark, Nozomi glanced around. It quickly became apparent that she was no longer in the forest, leaning against the beaten-up old tree she'd been so ruthlessly plowed into. Instead, she was firmly wrapped in multiple layers of sheets and sprawled out on a mattress in a room that seemed oddly familiar. Though why that was, her foggy brain couldn't seem to recall.

At first she thought she was alone, but a glance to her right proved otherwise as she spotted Sakura. The pinkette sat hunched over her; her palms glowed green, her pale pink brows wrinkled in concentration.

Golden eyes slipped shut again, and a soft, blissful sigh left Nozomi's lips as healing chakra wound its way through her rib cage, binding bone and tissue back together at a slow, steady rate.

Hearing her, green eyes shifted onto the brunette as Sakura paused in her work. "It's about time you woke up! Do you have any idea how worried we've been?!" _  
_

Nozomi's ears pressed back in protest at the outburst, and she met the pinkette's stare, her mouth curving into a frown. "Wha...was I really out that long?" The only response she got was a slight glare from the girl, and she quickly looked away, sweat dropping. _'Guess I'll take that as a yes..'_ Frowning, she glanced at her surroundings, surprised as she realized why the room had seemed familiar before. It was the same room she'd shared with Sakura right before they left on their mission. _Wait a minute._

The brunette's eyes widened as she remembered the last thing she'd seen. Naruto had confirmed that Gaara was dead and gone into a rampage that Deidara had managed to escape by use of a substitution; as unchecked rage began to transform her fellow jinchuuriki, she'd thrown herself into his path, trying to help him -which had resulted in her being hurt badly. Apparently badly enough to leave her unconscious for the remainder of the mission.

So what, then had become of the Kazekage? What of Naruto? Just before she'd blacked out Kakashi had assured her that the blond was okay, but was he really? Her head was swimming with questions she needed answered, and she sat up quickly. She had barely processed the discomfort this caused in her chest when she was forced back onto the bed, and she peered up into annoyed, jade eyes.

"Don't even think about moving! Your fever only just started to go down, and I'm not done healing you yet." She paused, seeing the protests build on Nozomi's lips and sighed. "Look, three of your ribs are fractured. If I don't treat them now, there's a chance one could puncture a lung -I'm honestly surprised it hasn't happened already, looking at the damage! So either calm down until I say you can move again, or I'll have to punch you and heal everything while you're out cold!"

A drop of sweat rolled down Nozomi's head at her friend's aggressiveness, and she held her hands up in surrender. "N-no, that's okay. I'll just stay put…" She gave a heavy sigh and closed her eyes as Sakura resumed her work, hands alight with green chakra once more.

"...Sakura-chan? What exactly happened while I was out?" There was a brief pause as Nozomi gazed up at the woman, careful not to make any sudden movement that might interfere with her healing. "The last thing I remember is finding out that we'd been too late to save the Kazekage...so...did we just bring him back to the village? I need answers..."

Sakura's hands stilled for a moment as she processed the brunette's question, finally responding in a soft voice. "Well, he was dead. You're right about that...But we didn't just go back to the village. You see, Lady Chiyo used a powerful forbidden jutsu to resurrect the Kazekage...but it came at the cost of her own life."

"That's amazing…! But at the same time...I'm sorry she had to die for him to live again." Nozomi's breath hitched as Sakura merely nodded, her posture suddenly appearing more tense, and she lowered her gaze to the mattress, uncomfortable by the sudden heaviness that permeated the room's atmosphere.

A few minutes went by where neither girl spoke, until finally the pinkette went back to healing her friend, a somewhat forced grin appearing on her face. "Anyway, that's what happened. Now, let's get you healed up before Naruto runs out of patience and decides to break down the door!"

This elicited a soft chuckle from Nozomi, and she grinned weakly. "He's really _that_ worried?"

"Everyone was worried, Nozomi-chan, but especially Naruto. He insisted on having his clone carry you back here." Sakura replied after a pause, her eyes softening along with her tone.

A faint tint of pink colored the brunette's pale cheeks at this information. Now that she was thinking clearly, there had been a time before now that she had woken up to find herself in Naruto's arms. _'But I thought it was just a dream…'_ she fretted to herself, biting her lip.

Unaware of her friend's inner thoughts, the kunoichi went on talking. "To think that you were reckless enough to take on a sneak attack from that Akatsuki member to protect Naruto...I understand your mission was to look out for him, but-"

The pinkette broke off abruptly, clenching her teeth as her patient shot up again. "Nozomi- what do you think you're doing?" She asked in a strained voice, trying not to lose her temper and hit the girl. "I didn't say it was time to move!"

A sheepish look etched itself into Nozomi's features as she realized that she'd unintentionally disobeyed her fellow kunoichi's orders, and she laid back again quickly, gulping. "Sorry, I didn't mean it- I was just surprised, that's all! That's not-I mean- who told you it was the Akatsuki that did this?"

"Naruto said that was what Kakashi-sensei told him."

' _That must mean Naruto-kun doesn't remember anything from before!'_ Nozomi frowned pensively, falling silent for a moment. "Well what did Kakashi-sensei tell him, exactly?"

"Exactly what I said! You stopped Naruto from being sneak attacked by the Akatsuki member with the clay by pushing him out of the way and got hurt yourself instead!"

"What the?!- That's ridiculous! How could he-I mean-just- Naruto-kun _believed_ that?!" Sakura's eyebrows lifted at the outburst, and Nozomi resisted the urge to facepalm as she realized that she'd spoken her thoughts out loud.

"Um...I mean...that's a crazy way to describe what all happened out there, you know! I swear, Kakashi-sensei exaggerates sometimes, hahaha…!" She forced a weak laugh, sweat dropping as the room suddenly felt smaller under her pink haired friend's curious gaze.

"That's not what _really_ happened though, is it?" Sakura pressed, watching the girl's face carefully. "I'm right, aren't I? Don't think you can hide it after that reaction!"

"I-but that's not…" Nozomi faltered as she failed to come up with an excuse for her outburst and averted her gaze to the ceiling.

The pinkette smirked as the brunette's expression changed from protesting to defeated, and she leaned in, eyes twinkling with curiosity. "So, if that's not how you got so banged up, then what's the _real_ story?"

Grimacing at her friend's perceptiveness, Nozomi gave a defeated huff before delving into the story, from Naruto's failed assault on Deidara to her foolishly confronting him in his jinchuuriki mode.

"I see...that makes a lot more sense." Sakura mused. "I'm still standing by what I said earlier though- you're too reckless when it comes to Naruto!" She paused as another thought came to her. "So...he doesn't remember any of this?"

"I don't think so," Nozomi replied thoughtfully, "and it's probably _best_ that he doesn't. I don't think he'd take too kindly to learning that he'd attacked a teammate, do you?"

"No...Especially since it was _you_ he turned on…Ugh, he'd have a fit." Sakura agreed, frowning at the mental image of a sulking blue eyed blond.

"Then it's settled. We can never let him know what really happened." The brunette broke off abruptly as a new thought occurred. "Also, we can't let Saera-sensei find out either. If I know her, she'd think he needed to know the truth in order to forcibly mature him as a person...So...Deal?"

Sakura nodded, and the two slipped into a comfortable silence that was only broken a while later when the pinkette ordered her cat eared friend to sit up so she could bandage her rib cage.

"It's just an extra measure to keep you safe while you finish healing," Sakura explained in response to the brunette's questioning glance at the gauze.

Nozomi regarded the pinkette curiously for a moment before her eyes dropped back down to the bindings around her chest and she shrugged lightly. "Whatever you say. You're the medic, after all."

…..

Nozomi quickly discovered that Sakura hadn't been exaggerating about how concerned their blond friend was. She had barely opened the door and stepped out of the room when she heard her name, and Naruto, having insisted on waiting outside the room lunged forth, sweeping her up in a tight hug that knocked the wind clean out of her.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" He paused, grin fading slightly at the brunette's silence. "Hey, you _are_ okay, right? Then talk to me, -ttebayo! I was really worried!"

"...She'd probably be more talkative if you weren't squeezing her half to death." Sakura chimed in, looking amused from where she stood watching in the doorway. "Seriously, Naruto. I just finished healing her. Try not to break her again so soon!"

Giving the pinkette a confused look, Naruto shifted his gaze to the girl in his arms and, seeing her pained expression, he quickly let go, sweat dropping. "Whoops! Sorry, Nozomi-chan!"

Nozomi lurched forward, leaning against him unintentionally as she struggled to fill her lungs with oxygen. Finally, she stepped back and gave him a shaky smile. "...That's okay...I should've expected it, as upset as Sakura-chan said you were. Sorry you had to spend so much time worrying about me.."

Naruto began to protest in response, but before a word could leave his lips, Kakashi's voice entered the fray, and the group looked up to see their team leader, accompanied by Gai, whom he was leaning on for support.

"I see you're back on your feet, Nozomi," He spoke softly, careful not to let his teammates see just how exhausted he really was, "It's about time to head out, but there's something that Ebizo wants us to see first...especially you, Sakura." One obsidian eye landed on the pinkette, and he gave her a knowing look as she seemed to deflate. "Let's go check it out and get ready to go...I need to get back and give the Hokage a full report."

With that, all previous discussion was forgotten as the trio of teenagers followed the two jonins outside to meet up with the Sand Village's remaining elder.

The man was waiting calmly when they finally arrived, asking what he'd called upon them for. In response, his bushy, white eyebrows lifted slightly, as did his lips into the faintest of smiles, and he urged the group of ninja to follow him.

…..

' _This must be where they honor their fallen comrades.'_ Nozomi thought, gazing at the symmetrical rows of headstones; each one bore a name, along with the village's symbol.

Ebizo stopped at the end of one row, where a much newer looking memorial had been placed. Like the others, it was fashioned in the shape of the Sand's insignia, and it bore the katakana for "Chiyo" in the center.

As Team Kakashi, Team Gai and the Kazekage, as well as his siblings gathered around the grave, the elderly man spoke.

"She didn't want a headstone grave," He stepped forward to stroke the stone lovingly, "But despite her wishes, I thought it was better to have one. I felt sure that people would want to have a place to come to remember her."

Kakashi instructed everyone to say their farewells, and Nozomi lowered her head, eyes closed as she thought back to the spunky old lady she'd known for such a short time. _'Thank you, Lady Chiyo. If it weren't for you this would be a much sadder time for everyone here...I can't thank you enough for returning the smile to Naruto-kun's face. I hope you rest in peace.'_

"Let's go." At Gai's words, Nozomi's eyes opened and she turned to follow Neji, Lee and Ten Ten, who were already following the team captains out of the memorial site. After a few seconds, the group of ninja ceased all movement, glancing back and Lee called out.

"Sakura, Naruto. We really should be going."

Having not realized that her teammates had stayed behind, Nozomi glanced back, surprised. At that moment, Naruto turned around, a small smile on his lips as he answered. "Right! C'mon Sakura, it's time to go."

Without another glance back, the blond hurried to join the group, pausing when he spotted the brunette watching him and flashing her a smile that she returned absently before glancing back at their remaining team member.

Instead of following the boy, the pinkette stepped closer to lay a hand on the headstone. She then moved to join them, pausing briefly to glance back at the grave once more, and the sad shimmer in her eyes made Nozomi frown.

This was the same tenseness she'd felt earlier when Sakura had been filling her in on what happened. Her pink-haired friend must've formed some sort of bond with the fallen Sand elder during their battle with Sasori. Team Kakashi had been split up for so long, there was definitely time for Sakura to have come to admire the elderly woman, at the very least. Deciding to ask the pinkette about it another time, the cat girl turned to resume walking and bumped into a firm chest.

Naruto smiled apologetically as she fell back and grabbed her arm to help her regain her balance, letting go once she was steady. "You ok, Nozomi-chan? You've got a pretty serious look on your face right now."

"What? Oh, I'm fine." Nozomi gave a sheepish grin and glanced back at the pink-haired kunoichi. "It's just...Sakura-chan…"

"...Yeah, I know." The blond followed her line of sight with dimmed blue eyes, nodding slightly. "I think she got pretty close to Granny on that mission, so she's taking it harder than the rest of us."

Frowning thoughtfully, Nozomi looked away from the girl, wanting to give her some privacy as she turned back to the spiky haired boy. "That makes sense…" She paused, shoulders heaving as she sighed softly.

' _I wish I hadn't been knocked out...it doesn't feel like I was much help on this mission. In the end, all I did was get trapped in genjutsu and fail to stop Deidara, then get myself pummeled by Naruto and his demon chakra!'_

The more she thought about it, the worse she felt; naturally, the shadow cat in her head didn't help, offering her own scathing review of the girl's performance. Soon Nozomi had become so lost in thought, she'd lost track of her whiskered friend, who was still trying to engage her in conversation. As she picked up her pace, she unknowingly left him behind.

"Nozomi-chan? Hey!" Naruto's brows knit together in confusion as he watched the brunette walk away. "Was it something I said?" Realizing that he wasn't going to get an answer, he vowed to keep an eye on the girl, who was acting stranger than usual, and hurried after her.

…..

' _That's just wrong…'_

Naruto gawked as he saw his teacher being hoisted upon Gai's back in what could only be described as the weirdest looking piggy back ride ever. Was that guy actually serious?! Apparently so, because the bowl haired man took off cackling wildly, calling out over his shoulder. "What's wrong, slowpokes? Can't keep up with me? Let's go!"

As if one piggy back ride wasn't bad enough, Lee decided to treat the whole thing as a training exercise and crouched in front of Neji, urging him onto his back.

Naturally, the Hyuuga refused, looking beyond annoyed, and the group of teenagers continued on, following the direction the overly enthused Gai had run off in.

"Poor Kakashi-sensei." Sakura remarked under her breath.

"Yeah...that whole idea is just creepy." Naruto agreed with a shrug. "Well, at least he'll get back to Konoha and into a hospital quicker.." He paused as an idea came to him and glanced over to his left, where Nozomi stood, staring into space. "Oh, but if you get tired, I don't mind carrying you the rest of the way!"

"Really, Naruto?!"

The blond sweat dropped, hearing Sakura's incredulous tone and glanced back at her nervously. "W-what's wrong, Sakura? Is it because I said I'd carry Nozomi-chan instead of you?"

"That's not it at all!" Clenching a fist tightly, the pinkette resisted the urge to punch the boy for his denseness, gritting her teeth in annoyance. "I just can't believe you...we just got done agreeing that the whole piggyback thing was creepy and not even a minute later you're offering one to Nozomi!"

Naruto threw his hands out in protest, sputtering awkwardly as he tried to explain that it was okay since she wasn't also a guy, and Sakura rolled her eyes in disgust.

"You pervert! The fact that she's a girl would just make it more awkward!"

Noticing the way her hand kept clenching and unclenching at her side, Naruto took a step away to put some distance between them, not wanting to be hit. "It's not like that, Sakura-chan! I was just thinking about how she got hurt -I know you healed her up, but she's probably tired so I just offered in case she wanted to get home and rest sooner. That's all I was thinking about, I swear -ttebayo!"

There was a brief pause as Sakura gave him an unconvinced look and he sweat dropped, looking away. "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not anyway...cause Nozomi-chan knows me better than to think something like that...right, Nozomi-chan?"

Nozomi didn't answer, and he frowned, glancing over to find she was no longer beside him; the brunette had stopped walking without either of them noticing and was several paces behind, staring down at the sand distractedly.

"Oi! Nozomi-chan!" The blond waved his arms, trying to get her attention but to no avail, and his frown deepened. "What's going on with her?"

"Maybe Nozomi-chan thinks you're a pervert after all." Sakura chimed teasingly. This earned her a narrow eyed scowl from the boy next to her.

"Sakura-chan, this is serious! She's been acting like this ever since earlier, when we were at granny's grave!" As the teasing expression left the pinkette's face, he fixed her with a determined look. "You were alone with her for _hours_ in that room! She must've told you _something_. I'll bet you _know_ what's bothering her right now, don't you?!"

' _She's not still worrying about him finding out he hurt her, is she? If so, ignoring him is_ _ **not**_ _the way to keep him from finding her out- it's just going to make him worry and question_ _ **more**_ _!'_ Sakura glanced back at the cat eared girl who was now separated from them by a hill of sand, green eyes narrowing slightly before her gaze slid back to her impatient looking teammate.

"Even if I _did_ know, what makes you think I'd _tell_ you? Girls don't tell each other's secrets- if she had said anything in there it would be considered strictly between her and I." She paused, feeling a twinge of guilt as the blond's face fell, and sighed.

"Although I say that, I'm just as in the dark about this as you are right now...Why don't you go and talk to her, if it's got you so bothered?"

Naruto gave her an unsure look and she frowned, confused. "What? You're her best friend, right? If anybody can get her to open up it's you. Or am I wrong?"

"No, you're right...I _am_ her best friend. It's just..." Lips that had quirked into a small smile curved back into a frown. "Every time I tried talking to her today, she's kinda brushed me off. What if she's mad at me again?" _  
_

"I don't think it's anything like that." Sakura replied, thinking back to her conversation with the brunette. "I can't tell you exactly what was said in that room, but I will say this: when Nozomi woke up she was more concerned about you than she was about her own pain." She gave a careless shrug of her shoulders, adding, "That doesn't seem like the way she'd act if she was upset with you, don't you think?"

"No, it doesn't….but still…if she's not mad, why's she ignoring me…?" Naruto trailed off.

Having run out of patience for the discussion, Sakura groaned. "Naruto, the only way you're gonna find out is if you talk to her so just get to it already!" She spun the blond around and gave him a shove, sweat dropping as she watched him lose his footing and stumble awkwardly down the hill toward their unsuspecting friend.

"...Oops.."

…..

Nozomi took a step forward and watched as her foot sank into the sand, making a footprint; eventually the hole filled back in, causing the surface to appear whole- as if her footprint had never been there to begin with. In a way, it reminded her of herself. She'd certainly tried her hardest to make a difference on this mission, but like her footprint, which had quickly been covered by the endless grains of sand, any impact she'd made had been so minimal it wasn't even noticeable.

"No matter what I try, everything I do ends up failing," She murmured softly, frowning. _'Was I really the right person to assign to look after Naruto? I know I'm a fellow jinchuuriki, but…'_

"Waaahhh-I can't stoooppp!"

Black ears perked up at the voice, and Nozomi's eyes lifted, brows arching in surprise as she saw Naruto half running, half tripping down a hill of sand towards her. "...Naruto-kun…?"

"Gah! Nozomi, watch out!"

Unfortunately, the blond jinchuuriki's warning had come too late, and he plowed right into the brunette. Nozomi grimaced as they both fell, and she landed flat on her back. Thank goodness her landing had been cushioned by the sand, she thought, only to make a face as some of the small particles slipped into her ears. _Then again…_

A heavy weight on her chest brought her back to attention, reminding her that Naruto had fallen on her, and she was suddenly grateful that Sakura had insisted on binding her recovering ribs.

"Naruto-kun...are you okay?" She frowned at the boy's muffled reply and lifted her head up, propping herself on her elbows to try and see better; her face turned red as she realized he'd landed face first in her chest!

Too stunned to speak, she gawked, mortified as the blond's head shifted back and forth, unintentionally nuzzling the soft skin with his nose. Finally, he was able to prop himself on his chin, and a faint blush colored his cheeks as he realized where he'd landed, a sheepish look covering his features.

"Sorry. Sakura-chan pushed me and I couldn't stop...you're not hurt, are you…?"

Realizing how close their faces were in this position seemed to snap Nozomi out of her stunned stupor, and she shrieked. "G-get off of me!" Not waiting for him to act on his own, she gripped both of his shoulders and gave a firm push, knocking him onto his back in the sand next to her.

She wasted no time sitting up and shaking the sand out of her ears. As she got to her feet, adjusting her top that had gotten rumpled in the fall, she heard muffled laughter, and her gaze traveled up the hill, landing on Sakura.

One gloved hand was clamped firmly over her mouth, but it was easy to tell that she was laughing; even if it was muffled, her eyes shone with undisguised amusement.

Following the brunette's line of sight, Naruto scrambled to his feet and pouted, pointing toward the snickering pinkette. "Hey, that wasn't very nice, Sakura-chan!"

The kunoichi wiped tiny specks of tears from the corner of her eyes that had resulted from her giggle fit as she shot the blond an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, okay?! I just wanted you to stop second guessing yourself and go talk to her!"

There was a short pause as Naruto deliberated over his response, but finally his lips twitched into a small grin, and he folded his arms behind his head casually. "Well, I guess it's okay….I mean, at least I had a soft landing!" His cheeks warmed at the memory, but the small smirk on his face was wiped away by a sharp jolt to his ankle and he glanced down just in time to see Nozomi's foot retract. "Hey! What was that for?"

Gold eyes narrowed as the brunette's head turned to look at him, exposing flushed cheeks. "What do you think?! For being a pervert!"

This caused Naruto to pout again, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to defend himself. "But Nozomi-chan! It's not like I said anything bad, -ttebayo! All I said was that I had a soft landing, and it's true! Your chest _is_ sof-oww!" The blond touched the fresh hand print on his cheek gingerly and winced. _'I was just telling the truth...but maybe I went too far.'_ Deciding it was probably best to keep his compliments to himself for now, the blond fell silent.

Seeing his pouty face, Nozomi looked away quickly, arms wrapped tightly around herself as she bit her lip, the red in her cheeks darker than it had been before. "Look, I'm sorry but….Stop! You're not helping matters at all right now!"

"It really wasn't his fault, Nozomi-chan...I pushed him too hard." Rolling her eyes at the exchange, Sakura gazed at the brunette, flinching with surprise at the steely eyed glare she received from the girl. "Um...sorry about that! You're not hurt, right?"

"Nope. The sand broke my fall." Nozomi said dryly, and she laughed weakly.

"Right, that's good…" The pinkette looked at Naruto again, grinning weakly. "Well, it's not what I expected, but you definitely got her attention now, so I'll leave you two to talk!"

Nozomi frowned as the kunoichi turned and all but ran out of her sight. Willing the remainder of her blush to go away, she turned to the blue eyed blond beside her. "You were trying to get my attention…? Well, okay. You got it...what's up?"

"Yeah, actually that's what I wanted to ask you." Naruto replied seriously, relieved for the chance to change subject. "You've been acting strange today, Nozomi-chan. What's wrong?"

The brunette's response was a slight tilt of her head as her brows rose curiously. "Me? Strange? How so…?"

Blue eyes rolled upwards at her evasive reply as Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "C'mon, Nozomi-chan. Don't play around. You've been staring into space since before we left the Sand Village, and for the last hour you've let yourself fall further and further behind everyone else." He paused, unable to stop the amused smirk that spread on his lips as the color drained from the brunette's face. "Hehe! You really didn't think I'd notice, _Neko-chan_?"

Nozomi's eyes darted down to the sand as he snickered, and she bit her lip lightly, sweat dropping. "No- it's not that...I just...well, look. Nothing's wrong, okay? I guess I'm just a little….tired. From the mission." It wasn't exactly a lie -she _did_ feel a little out of it, probably from all the chakra she'd taken from Kumoraku before- but it wasn't really the truth, either. She knew her distant behavior had nothing to do with her energy levels and everything to do with how insignificant and small she'd begun to feel as a kunoichi. Still, she could only explain so much of that to her friend without giving away things she'd promised Tsunade that she'd keep quiet.

Gathering all her courage, the brunette raised her eyes to meet his once again, giving the best smile she could muster.

Naruto fixed her with a skeptical look, not looking at all convinced, but shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly nonetheless. "Are you still hurting? Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei tried to tell me it wasn't that bad, but...I know better." He broke off, lowering his voice as he gave her a serious look. "My clone could tell you were having a hard time breathing...your injuries were more serious than I was told, weren't they?"

At the wide eyed expression he received, his teeth ground together and he clenched his fist, frustration flitting across his features. "I'm sorry. I swore to myself when we first met that I'd look out for you, but you still got hurt, and it sounds like it was on _my_ watch!"

A slightly guilty looking smile appeared on Nozomi's face as she watched the boy's shoulders go tense with frustration. _'And this is why he can never know what really happened.'_ She took a deep breath to keep her voice calm, lest she should sound shaky and rouse his suspicion.

"What happened wasn't your fault at all." She reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder and offered a small smile as his eyes met hers. She may not be able to tell him what had really caused her injuries, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to cheer him up. "I _chose_ to take that hit, knowing the risks. So don't blame yourself. What happened to me was my fault entirely."

Naruto mulled over her words, looking conflicted for a moment before seeming to settle on accepting them, and a soft sigh left his lips. "Well, anyways it doesn't really matter as long as you're okay now, does it?" He grinned as the brunette shook her head. "But still, if you're tired you should rest. Let me carry you back to the village, that should help!"

A drop of sweat trickled down Nozomi's head as the blond knelt with his back to her, and she shook her head at his urging. "I...thanks, but I'm not _that_ tired." She chuckled awkwardly, taking a step around him as she began to walk again, deciding that they'd fallen far enough behind their friends.

Frowning, the spiky haired boy straightened up and fell back in step beside the brunette. "If you're not tired, then something else is going on...cause it's not like you to just ignore us all the way you have been!"

She was forced to stop and meet his stare once again as he set a hand firmly on her shoulder, and a soft whimper escaped her that he just barely heard. "Naruto-kun...we're getting further and further behind...shouldn't we be doing more walking and less talking?"

"There you go again, trying to avoid the conversation!" Naruto tightened his hold on her shoulder, frowning deeply at her. "Just tell me what's wrong. You know I'm not gonna stop bugging you until you do, so just...stop trying to give me the silent treatment and tell me what the heck's going on with you!"

Nozomi stopped walking and sighed softly. There really was no way out of the blond's interrogation, it seemed. Her hands balled into fists that squeezed just enough to create claw shaped indentations on her palms as she fell silent, trying to figure out how to put her frustration into words he'd understand. Finally, she nodded tensely, gazing idly at the sand.

"I worked so hard while you were away with Master Jiraiya, hoping that when you returned I'd be strong enough to aid you on missions… But I was useless..." She ducked her head as unwanted tears sprang to her eyes, clenching her fists tighter until her sensitive nose picked up on the coppery smell of blood, drawn by her claws. Wincing, she unballed her fists, flexing her fingers as she continued. "All I did was lose my temper and get trapped in a genjutsu trying to defend you, then I couldn't even get my own jutsu to work properly and you had to rescue me! As if that wasn't pathetic enough I got knocked unconscious for the rest of the mission!" The brunette stopped speaking, her ears lowering dejectedly as she exhaled heavily.

A heavy silence fell over the two jinchuuriki as she turned away, hiding her tears. After a moment, she felt a hand on her shoulder again, and, swiping a hand across her face to dry any tears, she reluctantly glanced back at its owner.

"...Do you even hear yourself right now?" Naruto's voice came out lower than she'd ever heard it, making her think he must be struggling with his own emotions at the moment. Frowning at his question, she rose a brow silently, beckoning him to continue, and he did, once he realized she wasn't going to answer. "You're talking to that stupid cat again, aren't you? That's gotta be it, cause the things you just stood here and said don't sound anything like the Nozomi I know!"

"What?! No, I'm not!" Nozomi shook her head vigorously. "I just never realized how poor my skills are...I guess it took a real mission outside of the village for me to find out the truth."

Naruto's frown deepened, his eyes hardening as he stared at her. "That doesn't make any sense, though! I know you, Nozomi-chan -this isn't the kind of thing you'd just suddenly notice out of thin air...not without being told something like that to begin with! So if it _wasn't_ Kumoraku, who _was_ it?!"

As the brunette continued to avoid his stare, he grit his teeth in annoyance. Fine, if she wanted to play that way he'd give her no choice, he decided, stepping close enough that their noses would touch if either of them made any sudden movement. His plan worked, as their close proximity definitely caught her attention, and she stumbled backward, locking eyes with him nervously. Satisfied that he now had her undivided attention, Naruto mirrored her steps, not allowing her to put any distance between them.

"Who was it, Nozomi-chan?"

Grimacing as he seemed unlikely to let the matter drop (or stop mimicking her movements, it seemed) Nozomi's ears flattened in defeat. "...It was Itachi." She finally said in such a low voice that had Naruto been any further away he might not have heard.

"Itachi?! What the-How? When?!" The blond demanded as he stepped back to give her some space now that she had finally answered.

The brunette was reluctant, but she knew he'd only continue to pester her, so she quickly summarized what had gone down, from her finding herself under the Uchiha's genjutsu to the moment he'd casually name-dropped her clan and pointed out her failures before putting her to sleep.

"So that's what happened." She finished, giving a half shrug as she noticed the startled look on her friend's face, "I didn't want to believe him, especially since he wouldn't tell me how he knew about my clan...but through the course of this mission I saw it for myself." She broke off, giving the Uzumaki time to let her story fully sink in before speaking again. "I always thought you and I were the same, but the truth is we couldn't be more different. I just didn't realize it until now."

A sad smile appeared on her face as she spoke, a faraway look in her eyes as she thought back to what the fake Itachi had put her through to make her understand. "You're the Nine-Tails' vessel, and me? I'm just...a failed jinchuuriki who can't begin to understand the kind of pain people like you and Gaara-san have to go through. No matter how much I may want to, I can't begin to understand what you deal with."

"But…Why does that matter?" Naruto asked, brow furrowing.

"Because," Nozomi replied after a moment, "how can we understand each other if we haven't suffered to the same extent?"

The blond's mouth pulled down into a frown as he considered her words. "Our stories and backgrounds may be different, but we've both got some form of demon inside us. So what if yours isn't a tailed beast? I still say that's more than enough for us to be able to understand and empathize with each other!" He paused thoughtfully.

"And just for the record, you _did_ help on this mission!" He offered a sheepish grin in response to Nozomi's surprised expression. "I was amazed at how you managed to regain control of yourself in the ravine! How'd you _do_ that?"

"Oh...that? Hehe…" Now it was Nozomi's turn to look bashful as she dropped her gaze to the ground, kicking the sand with the toe of her sandal. "I guess that's a result of Saera-sensei's training. She's always been focused on making sure I could control Kumoraku's power...though I'm still not that great at it."

"Are you kidding me?! You were able to reverse that transformation, didn't you? That's awesome!"

The brunette blushed sheepishly and looked away again, murmuring that it had been more luck than anything. "There are times that I can stop her from taking control and causing chaos but for the most part I'm really just so-so when it comes to actually controlling her chakra."

"But still...that's great! You've gotta teach me sometime -ttebayo!" Naruto gushed, grinning widely as he noticed the pink hue beginning to color the girl's cheeks. After a minute, he inhaled deeply, coming out of his excited frenzy. "Itachi can shove it if you ask me, cause that doesn't sound like a failed jinchuuriki to me! I _wish_ I could do that!"

Still unable to speak, Nozomi offered a sheepish grin, truly touched by the blond's effort to make her feel better.

"You know," The boy began after a pause, "Back there in the forest, when I couldn't get you to wake up, I...I was really upset." He bit his lip as his voice wavered slightly, forcing a grin despite the seriousness his tone had taken. "I kept assuming the worst had happened to you, ya know? I had a fit when Sakura-chan wouldn't let me watch over you while she healed your injuries.."

Gold eyes widened a fraction at the confession, and Nozomi gave a soft laugh. "Well, you said it yourself, didn't you? Tailed beast or not, I'm a jinchuuriki like you, so...you know you don't have to worry _that_ much.." Seeing the small grin on his face, she looked away, feeling a warmth creep into her cheeks. "I may not be as strong as you but it still takes a lot to take me down, you know."

Naruto's grin widened as he noted the faint color in her cheeks, and he stepped closer, letting his hand brush against hers gently. "I can't help it, Nozomi-chan. You're special to me, so like it or not I'm always gonna worry about you."

A shiver raced up the brunette's spine as she processed his words, and she jumped slightly at the unexpected touch. "Uh...me? But I.…" Feeling flustered, she glanced around, swallowing hard as it dawned on her just how completely alone they were. "So! How about we catch up to the others now? I don't want to get lost out here!"

Naruto's brows arched as he gave her a look that plainly said he knew she was trying to change the subject, and she sweat dropped, laughing nervously. "W-well...do _you_?"

The pause that followed her words seemed to go on forever before the boy finally smiled and shook his head. "No, you're right. Let's get moving." He threaded his fingers together with hers and started walking. Startled, the brunette glanced down timidly at their joined hands and bit her lip, letting her eyes slide back to the blond who noticed and gave her a sly grin.

Sighing inwardly, she decided to just let it be this time and allowed herself to be led by the boy. "Let's hurry and find the others before they notice us missing and get the wrong idea."

"The wrong idea?" Naruto echoed, glancing at her curiously as they walked. "You mean like...they think we ditched them to go on a date?" His innocently worded suggestion caused the brunette's face to resemble a tomato, and he snickered as she turned away, muttering incoherently under her breath. For her to have such a reaction, he must be right, he thought.

"Well, if that's what they wanna think, then _let_ 'em!" He dropped her hand in favor of snaking an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. "It's not like it's far from the truth, y'know." His voice lowered as he leaned in close, his breath tickling her sensitive ear. "I'd rather walk home alone with my Neko-chan." He chuckled as the furry triangle pressed back, and unable to resist, he stroked the soft appendage, smirking when his actions were rewarded with a groan as the brunette tried -and failed- to break his hold on her, pouting.

"Naruto-kun! Let go!"

He tightened his grip as she continued to squirm, giving a mock pout. "Aww c'mon! It won't kill you to spend a little time with me, will it? We barely got to talk on this mission…"

To his surprise, Nozomi stopped fighting him, a small smirk playing on her lips as her head turned to face him. "...And that's _my_ fault?" She responded.

The teasing lilt in her voice reminded him just who had ignored who for so much of the trip, and he winced. "Hey...I already said I was sorry for that -ttebayo!" He groaned, lip puckering in a real pout. "Please, Nozomi-chan?"

Nozomi had to resist the urge to scream in frustration as she found herself staring into big, pouty blue eyes. Didn't he know what it did to her, seeing him so sad? He must know it was near impossible to refuse him when he was like that!

With a soft sigh, she tore her gaze away and slumped her shoulders. "Oh, alright...just stop giving me those eyes!"

"What eyes?" The blond blinked, genuinely confused, proving that he hadn't, in fact, known what he was doing to her when he turned his pout on her. As her words registered, he gave a cheer and continued walking, beaming as he released his hold on her to hold her hand instead. From that point on, the two walked while Naruto struck up a conversation on any and everything he could possibly think of, trying to make up for lost time.

The whole thing was slightly exhausting to Nozomi, but she kept talking anyways, secretly just happy to see the boy smiling again after the drama they'd endured on the mission to save Gaara. If walking hand in hand and talking a mile a minute was all it took for his smile to rival that of the sun, then she supposed it wasn't so bad.

On the other hand, she hoped he'd relinquish his hold on her soon. There was no telling what kind of teasing she'd have to endure if they caught up to their squad and Sakura saw them together like this...

* * *

 _And that's it! I have to say, this arc was a pain to write but it was also a good challenge. I hope you will look forward to the next part, which diverges from the canon's plot for a bit. ^^  
_

 _This chapter marks the beginning of my writing hiatus. I have no idea as of now when I will be back, but I've been working on the next arc's outline and am excited to share what comes next! Who knows? Maybe with enough reviews I will feel motivated to work on it sooner than later~ ;)_

 _Until next time, my lovely readers!_

 _~NinjaKitty91_


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